Lord Troublemaker and Vanadis
by AreYouFrikkenSerious
Summary: After defeating Pain, Naruto gets sent to a new world, where the term 'Shinobi' is dreaded by all. Better summary inside. Non-Jinchuriki Naruto. Swordsman-Naruto. Genres: Adventure/Humor/Romance (There aren't enough tabs, damnit...). NarutoXEllen, TigreXLimXHarem.
1. Prolog - Chapter 3

**I did say there would be a better summary, so here it is:**

After defeating Pain, Naruto gets sent to a new world to start over. Just how will he start over in a world which he knows next to nothing about and where the term' 'Shinobi' is dreaded throughout the world? What if he gets caught up in a civil war he technically doesn't need to be part of? Pairings: Naruto x Eleonora V.; Tigre x Limlisha; Additional tags: Wind, Water and Earth using Naruto; stronger Naruto; somewhat smarter Naruto; Fuinjutsu Naruto; non jinchuriki Naruto; Way more nice Lim (When not in Public or around Ellen); Trouble always following Naruto;

 **Greetings all. So yeah, I am going to write a story in a category that I feel…no…KNOW has a lot of potential: A crossover between Naruto and Madan no Ou to Vanadis (Lord Marksman and Vanadis).  
I mean, come on, there are so many underrated anime out there.**

 **I am going to write with the same Style as my third story, 'A Fox is Semper Fidelis', as I am basically writing both stories at the same time.**

 **Now, I know I announced that I was writing only one story, that being the aforementioned one, but I decided on writing this one AFTER posting the last chapter of 'Fox Days'.**

 **Anyhow, I really hope you enjoy this Fanfic.**

 **On a side note, I'd really recommend watching the 'Madan no Ou to Vanadis' anime…I find it pretty good to watch.**

 **On that Note, this Fanfic will follow the Madan-anime.**

 **Please remember the following…I don't feel like writing it in every frikken upload…**

"It is pranking time…" Normal speech

'That could have gone worse…' Normal thought

" _Rasengan_ " Technique/Jutsu name

 **Prolog, Leaving Home**

To say Naruto was exhausted was a big understatement. Less than an hour earlier he had defeated the last Pain puppet and without rest he had gone to the real Pain's location, where he was initially sent flying by Konan, who thought he was going to threaten Nagato. The Katsuya clone accompanying Naruto got dispelled at that, cutting Naruto of from the village.

Instead of getting revenge on Konan for the punch, Naruto insisted that he wanted to speak with them.

Deciding to accept his words, but not lowering her guard, Konan and Nagato told Naruto their story, which the blond Jinchuriki listened to without interrupting.

Afterwards Naruto managed to convince the two that their current course was wrong and was greatly saddened when Nagato sacrificed his own life to bring back the lives of those who died during the recent battle.

Now, he was on his way back to the village.

"So, you managed to defeat Pain-sama…" a voice spoke out. Naruto turned just in time to see a orange mask with a single eye-hole staring at him and feel an intense pain in his stomach, where his 8 triagrams seal was.

Looking down, he saw Tobi's hand above his seal, which had been shattered, and was extracting the Kyuubi from the seal, forcing the Biju chakra into another seal he had on the palm of his hand his hand.

"Wh…at…?" Naruto managed before he lost the last of his strength and the world began turning dark.

"You have been an annoyance for quite some time…but no more." Tobi said. His voice had gone from the jester like one to a deeper, more menacing one.

"And now, everyone will believe you perished during the last battle… _Kamui_ " Naruto barely felt his body being sucked into a vortex of some sorts.

Suddenly Tobi jerked as a surge of chakra forced its way out of the seal on his hand and into his system.

 **"Don't you fuck with me…"** a deep voice roared. **"I will not be held captive again by the likes of you…"** The Warp Vortex began to destabilize and the next thing Naruto knew, he was in complete darkness. It wasn't the scary, haunting darkness one would have in a nightmare…no. it was the gentle, soothing darkness.

It kind of reminded him of falling asleep.

 _'Well, dad…Seems like I am coming to meet you and mom on the other side…'_ Naruto thought as his eyes began closing. _'My only regret is not being able to become Hokage…'_ With that, Naruto let his consciousness slip away from him.

In a separate dimension

Unknown to Naruto, a large, pale being was watching this turn of events. Needless to say, the being had about a gram of pity or the shinobi, but it was still there.

"Your time in that world is over, young Shinobi." The being said. Take the life I took from your father and mother." A blue-gold orb appeared in his hand and it drifted across the dimensions until it reached Naruto. "Go now. Live your life in another world. Start again. Forge your own path, away from the chains of fate."

With Naruto

Naruto regained a slither of consciousness and thought he heard a voice speaking to him and then felt new life enter his near lifeless body, yet he was unable to open his eyes, let along move or speak. He continued floating through the void for what seemed like an eternity. When the sliver of consciousness slipped away again, he thought that he would finally move on to the next life.

He never realized how much gravity sucks as he began falling…

 **Chapter 1, Arrival in a new World**

In another world

A massive battle was taking place on the Plains of Dinant…actually it was more of a slaughter.

The Brune army, confident in Victory, had marched in under the command of the heir to the Brune kingdom, strongly believing that they could defeat anything Zhcted could throw at them.

The very first battle with an army led by a War Maiden showed them just how wrong they had been.

With an army of just over 5,000 the Zhcted army successfully performed a surprise attack on the 25,000 strong Brune Army, causing Chaos amongst the Brune ranks as they learned that the Zhcted army has dropped the royal standard. The few Officers available managed to gather enough of the retreating forces to stop the Zhcted army in a furious melee. Unfortunately, those troops that had rallied where only conscripts with limited training. The Zhected knights on the other hand were highly trained veterans and made short work of the resistance…short being the opperative word…it was nearly morning when the battle was officially over.

Just after sunrise

A lone Brunean Archer walked across the battlefield.

"What a terrible…battle…" he muttered. All around him were the dead bodies of his fellow countrymen with the occasional Zhected knight here and there.

He was going around, looking for other survivors as well as arrows as he was almost empty, only 5 left in his quiver.

The sound of a horse galloping towards him drew his attention. He turned to see a Zhcted Knight charging towards him, sword drawn.

"A Brune Survivor!" the knight shouted, arrogantly charging at the archer even though he saw the archer take aim at him.

Moments later the Knight fell of his horse, arrow sticking out of his forehead. The horse continued charging, though it veered off course and galloped well past the archer.

"Aw man, I really needed that horse…" he said. His eyes narrowed seeing the group of mounted knights riding across the battlefield, unaware of his presence. He did a quick, as in instantaneous, head count.

"Seven of them, huh?" he asked. His focus focused on the lone rider in the second row, a well endowed, white haired female wearing rather…revealing…blue armor. She was riding on a white stallion and had her sword near her knees at the front of the saddle. "That hair…she's a war maiden." He said. "If I can defeat the enemy leader, they'll have other concerns than chasing down the other survivors." His face took on an determined expression. "All right…"

He ran to a spot well ahead of their path and looked around a boulder.

"Range is 300 alsins **(1)**." He estimated. "I can do this." He stepped out from his hiding spot and took out his remaining 4 arrows, sticking two into the ground in front of him. With the other two in hand, he took aim with the first arrow.

It seemed as though only one person in the approaching group saw the archer standing in their path, though the distance was too great for her to make out what the figure was doing. The white haired war maiden blinked, wondering what the lone figure was doing…she felt almost no Killing Intent **(KI)** , other than that her knights unconsciously release at all times.

"Eris, goddess of wind and storms…" the archer gave a quick prayer before shooting both arrows in rapid succession.

The two leading riders were caught completely of guard as their horses were struck in their heads by two arrows. They both collapsed with their mounts, alive but trapped under the weight.

The war maiden held on open hand over her sword, which seemed to attract the air and raised itself into the waiting palm. For a moment her face showed complete dissatisfaction before turning into a predatory one with a small smile.

Thanks to his sharp eyes, the archer saw her expression, which surprised him.

As he took aim with the third arrow, he temporarily hesitated when he saw her swing her sword and create a wind that lifted both her and her mount over the two dead horses, landing gently on the ground again. She then began charging towards him, seemingly making the same mistake the knight earlier had made.

His arrow sped towards her, but she easily cut it in two with her sword.

Gritting his teeth, he drew his last arrow and fired. The smile never left the war maiden's face as she cut this arrow from tip to fletching, through the entire length.

To her mild surprise though, the archer did not run away after having spent his last arrow. Instead he remained standing where he was in the middle of their path, face practically shouting at her that he was ready for whatever was to come.

She began slowing down. Had the archer run or have a different expression, she would have continued charging and quickly ended his life.

But something told her not to kill this one. She couldn't explain it, but she just knew that she had to keep this one alive. That, and now that she got a good look at him, she found she kinda liked him…It would be a pity to get rid of him…at least in her mind…

The archer stared into the deep crimson eyes of the beautiful war maiden just as she stared back at him whilst holding her sword less than a foot from his neck.

"Throw down your bow!" she said. Now that he has the time to get a better look at her, he couldn't help but compare her to one of his friends, who in his mind was far more pretty than her. "My name is Eleonora Viltaria." She introduced herself.

 _'At least she follows the rules of introduction…'_ he thought, slightly relieved. There may be hope for him yet.

"What is your name?" the now named Eleonora asked.

For a moment he didn't answer.

"Tigrevurmud Vorn." He said.

"Very well." Eleonora said, pulling back her sword a bit. "From now on, you belong to me."

It took a moment for her words to fully sink in and alarm bells went off in his head…but it was not because of her words.

With a burst of speed that greatly surprised her, he jumped over her sword and threw her of her horse. "Get down!" he shouted as something crashed into the ground a few feet from where he had been standing earlier. Small pieces of debris struck the horse and Tigrevurmud's back, with the latter galloping a short distance away due to fright.

Tigrevurmud stood up and looked at the object that had set of his alarm bells…and froze.

Eleonora forgave him for not helping her up…after she saw the reason as to why he was in that state.

Lying in a crater that measured around 6 alsins across was a young man who was covered in cuts and bruises. His clothes were also badly burnt and he looked as though he had just come from a intense battle. His face was covered in bruises as well, so she didn't really much in the way of uniqu characteristics…except for one thing…three whisker-like birthmarks adorning each of his cheeks.

"Who…is that?" Tigrevurmud asked.

"Nobody that I know…" Eleonora said. Neither of them heard the four remaining knights, two of whom were giving the two knights whose mounts were killed earlier a lift, approach them. The knight in blue plate armor was spewing KI at the archer, but quickly joined everyone else upon seeing the injured male.

Tigrevurmud was the first to recover, timing it nicely with when the KI suddenly stopped. He jumped down into the crater and landed next to the injured person.

For a moment the person opened his eyes slightly, before closing them again.

"Hey…you alright?" Tigrevurmud called out.

"He is alive?" Eleonora asked, surprised and even more surprisingly (for her) relieved.

"And in need of immediate medical treatment!" Tigrevurmud said. He used what medical supplies he had in his belt pouches to treat the worst of the male's wounds, which included a large stab wound on his abdomen. By the time he was finished the others had built a makeshift stretcher out of spears and clothing, taken from the deceased soldiers.

A few days later

Tigrevurmud was dreaming of his evening just before the attack happened, the moment when the least favorite person he knew, Zion Thernandier, tried to smash his bow; how Sir Mashas (Read Mas-has) made Zion leave; his conversations with his friends, him sharpening his arrows and generally having a good time with the other troops…at least those who weren't on Zion's side of things…

He woke up feeling something sharp entering his mouth. Opening his eyes, he looked at a tall woman with long, platinum blond hair, blue armor that reminded him of the war maiden's armor, red ribbon keeping the hair in a ponytail and deep blue eyes. She didn't seem bothered by the fact that she almost was giving him a clear view up her miniskirt.

"Are you finally awake?" she asked.

 _'Beautiful…'_ he thought before realizing it.

"Is it morning already?" he asked.

"It is already noon." She said stoically.

"That is an interesting way of waking people up…" Tigrevurmud told her

"It's a first for me, too…waking someone up in this way." She told him. "My goodness, how can you be a prisoner and sleep so soundly?"

"It is one of my special abilities." He answered.

She gave him a 'I am calling that Bullshit' look.

He ignored the look and turned his head to the side, closing his eyes again.

"Lady Eleonora is calling for you." The knight told him. Sighing, he got out of bed.

That moment, a far away Village

"Huh?! W-What do you mean, captured?" a young girl wearing a maid outfit asked, leaning against the table.

"Our forces were routed by an enemy sneak attack." Mashas said. "Tigre did not get away in time and was taken prisoner." Behind him, Tigrevurmud's (now shortened to Tigre) old friend and father figure, Bertrand looked ashamed of himself.

"B-But…you outnumbered the enemy five-to-one in this battle." The maid said. "There is no way you could have lost, is there?"

"It's true, we had 25,000 men against an enemy force of about 5,000." Mashas said. "As Prince Regnas' first campaign, his Majesty put together a mighty force."

"And even after Lord Tigre went all-out, it was all he could so to put together a hundred men." The maid said.

"Of those hundred men, 7 are dead and 30 are injured." Mashas said, making the maid gasp.

"Then again, they were trampled by their fleeing allies." Bertrand said.

"The demands from the enemy leader are as follows." Mashas said. "Unless his ransom is delivered to Zhcted within 50 days, Tigre will become the enemy's property."

The maid looked slightly hopeful.

"How much is it?" she asked. "Even if it's a lot, if we have everyone in the village help…" she was interrupted by Mashas shaking his head.

"Titta, please understand…" he said. The now named Titta felt her spirit plummet somewhat because of the tone in his voice. "The enemy's demand is for three times the revenue of Alsace, or something of comparable value."

Titta's spirit went straight to bedrock at that.

In Zhcted

"It's too high. Can't you bring it down by at least a third?" Tigre asked. He was standing in front of Eleonora's table in her office.

"No." she answered. Tigre slumped slightly at that.

"The deadline is within 50 days of the kingdom of Brune receiving our ransom demand." The knight who woke him said.

"If your ransom is not delivered to me, in accordance with the treaty, you will officially become mine." Eleonora said. "In the name of Radegast, god of honor and contracts.

It was slight, but Tigre's expression took on an outraged expression.

"So, you sent her to stick a sword in my mouth and bring me here just to make me listen to this outrageousness?" he asked. "And what about that boy you brought along? What is to happen to him?"

The knight tensed up at that.

"For the second and third, we are keeping him here until his wounds heal and he wakes up…if he ever will…, then his home country will also be given an option to have him returned." Eleonora said as she leaned her chin on her folded arms. "As for the first, there's something I want you very much to do for me."

Shortly afterwards

Tigre was standing at the shooting range, ready to shoot an arrow. Standing to the side are several men who were laughing.

He released the arrow and everyone watched as it flew far over the wall behind the targets.

"And the second one was unsuccessful!" someone gloated.

"Are you taking this seriously?" the female knight asked.

"Yes I am." Tigre said.

"I'd sure like to take his place…and show him how it's done!" a man with long black hair sneered. His buddies laughed at that.

"Rurick, that's harsh." One of them said.

Unknown to everyone, a person was watching everything. Nobody, not even Eleonora, who was sitting in a location where she could have easily seen him, noticed his presence.

"Why would the war maiden take this guy prisoner?" another man asked.

Tigre pulled another arrow out of the quiver, then plucked the string of the bow he was holding. It gave of an uneven sound.

"What a ridiculous farce this is." He muttered.

Only three people heard him: The female knight, whose eyebrow rose slightly; Eleonora, who barely heard him; and the unknown figure, whose ears were trained to pick up such low sounds.

The unknown figure also fully agreed with Tigre.

"The first shot was too short, the second one was way off the mark." Someone commented. "The count doesn't seem to be feeling well." All the while, three pairs of eyes were studying Tigre closely.

"I've gotten the feel of the bow now." Tigre muttered, again for only three to hear. "All right."

He was about to draw the arrow again when he saw a dark figure racing across the top of the wall and onto an overlooking turret. The man lifted what looked to be a crossbow and took aim, not at him, but at the war maiden.

"Look out!" Tigre warned just as the assassin fired. His warning, as well as Eleonora muttering "Arifar…" were unneeded however, as a cloaked person jumped a ridiculous distance and caught the bolt halfway between the assailant and its target.

The cloaked person landed at the bottom of the wall, then jumped again clearing the low wall with ease.

"After them! Don't let them get away!" the female knight shouted.

As the men began to scramble, Tigre asked her, "Can you take the assassin alive?"

"You do not have the luxury to ask that!" she said.

"Alright. I'll make it his foot." This made everyone stop what they were doing and watch as he drew the bow and took aim, releasing the arrow in a steep angle.

The assassin looked back, having a bad feeling suddenly, but couldn't see anyone following him. He turned back just in time for the arrow to pierce his right foot, going all the way through.

Those still on the shooting range were shocked to hear his shout of pain, none more so than Rurick.

"That's unreal! Using that crude bow?!" he said in utter disbelief.

The three men who didn't see Tigre shoot the arrow had caught up to the injured would-be-assassin and were surprised to the arrow sticking out of his foot.

"It's more that 300 alsins between the range and here!" the tallest one said, turning in the direction of the shooting range. The only person holding a bow that he could see there was Tigre. "Just who is he?"

Meanwhile with Tigre

Tigre turned to Eleonora. "So, do you still want me to shoot?" he asked.

"No, that's enough." She said. The gem on her sword seemed to shimmer as the wind picked up, waving her hair around. "You did well, Tigrevurmud Vorn."

A bucket full of some powder suddenly fell onto Rurick's head, much to the surprise of everyone. Coughing, he pulled it off, revealing that his entire head was covered by some yellowish powder. Grumbling, he went to his private chambers to wash the stuff out of his hair. His buddies also left, feeling were sorry for having badmouthed Tigre, when his skills with the bow were considerably greater than Rurick's, who was widely known as a master archer.

Once they were gone, Eleonora called out, "Just how long are you planning on hiding?" she asked. Suddenly the crossbow bolt from before dropped down at the feet of the female knight, making her jump slightly.

"About time you found out." A new voice said. They all looked up to see the cloaked figure, standing on one of the balconies. To their surprise, he just jumped down and landed safely.

"I hope, for your sake, that was only colored chalk you put in there." Eleonora told him.

She saw the figure smirk. Her eyes widened to their max when she saw the whiskers.

"How?" was all she asked.

"Later." He just said, stomach growling. "First, could you get me something to eat?"

Before she could answer, a loud, terrified scream echoed through the castle.

Next day, Eleonora's office

"I deeply apologize for yesterday!" Eleonora told Tigre, who stepped back in surprise. Naruto was leaning against the wall while the female knight just stood there, stoically.

"What are you talking about?" Tigre asked.

"The bow you were given. I never imagined you'd get one that bad." The white haired war maiden explained. "That pathetic excuse of a bow shouldn't even have been in the armory."

"Yet, that 'pathetic excuse of a bow' was used to help capture the unknown assailant." Naruto spoke up.

"So, that really was a poorly made bow, even in Zhcted." Tigre said to the war maiden before turning to the cloaked man. "I don't think we have been introduced, have we?"

"The same could be said for both Eleonora-sama and myself." The female knight said.

"Actually, Tigre, he is the one who fell from the sky." Eleonora said, startling both Tigre and the female knight.

"That would explain why I woke up with a fractured spine…" Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. "But I am all better now."

"And just who are you?" the female knight asked.

"Isn't it common curtsey to introduce yourself first, Ino?" Naruto asked.

"I-Ino?" the female knight stammered.

"You have the same color of hair as a friend of mine called Ino." Naruto said, not thinking about WHAT that name meant. **(Ino translated into 'Pig')**

"Her name is Limlisha, Lim for short." Eleonora said. Lim was still furious at the cloaked figure.

"My mistake, Lim-san." Naruto said, bowing. "I am Uzumaki Naruto. And you are?" he asked.

"My name is Tigrevurmud Vorn. Nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san." Tigre said.

"And I am Eleonora Viltaria, usually called Ellen by my friends." Eleonora (now Ellen) introduced herself.

Naruto removed the cape of his cloak, then turned his head in a confused manner.

"Why did you create a nickname for your surname?" he asked. Now it was the others' turn to be confused. "Isn't your given name Vila…Vitl…Via…Vitlira…" Ellen began laughing at his attempts to pronounce her surname.

"I'm sorry, but my given name IS Eleonora." She said between laughs. "Though I how you came up with that."

"Where I come from, he introduce ourselves surname first, given name last." Naruto explained.

"Still, that doesn't allow you to call me a pig!" Lim growled.

"Then you should have introduced yourself first, before demanding my name." Naruto said, smirking.

"Why you…"

"Now, now, Lim. He has a point there." Ellen told her friend. "Why don't you take him over to the dining hall? I am sure that he is hungry." Lim agreed slightly too fast for Naruto to believe it was because she was doing it because she was ordered to do it…

After they had left, she turned to him.

"Now, how is it that you are already up and jumping around?" she asked, serious expression on her face. Naruto interpreted the expression as the business-serious type, when in truth it was the concerned-serious type.

"I have always been a fast healer. Wounds that would be lethal to most other people will heal within a day." He explained.

"I am calling Bullshit on that…" she said, reaching out and pulling his cloak off. Her eyes widened seeing that his skin, whilst being covered in numerous scars, was clear of bruises or wounds. "No way…" she said. Her eyes would have strayed below the stomach, where a strange, spiral-like scar was located, had Naruto not been wearing a make-shift loincloth.

"Anyway, why did you have Vorn-san…no…Tigerwormed-san shoot with the bow yesterday anyway?" Naruto asked, retrieving his cloak from her.

"Just call him Tigre…and don't let him catch you calling him that." Ellen said, smiling at Naruto's attempts on saying Tigre's full name. "But still, your name…does it mean Fishcake? Or Maelstrom?" she asked.

"Maelstrom." Naruto answered. "And you still haven't answered my question."

Ellen sighed. The man was sharper than he appeared to be, yet clueless at the same time.

"Lim is around Tigre's age and she is far too devoted to me to consider spending her life with someone else." She began.

"And he is too concerned about the well being of his home town to concern himself with his own well being…" Naruto said. Ellen nodded.

"They may not see it, but they need each other." Ellen said.

"You may not see it, but there is something going on between those two." Naruto said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"One of the first things I learned is to 'look underneath the underneath'. Also, I was trained to notice the slightest of changes in people and the surrounding area." Naruto told her.

"Care to share the rest?" Ellen asked, smirking.

"Blunt answer or long one?" he asked.

"Blunt for now…" Ellen said.

"I am a Shinobi." Naruto said…bluntly.

Ellen's eyes nearly popped out.

"That cannot be…" she stammered, before taking an aggressive stance and flaring her KI.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, confused as to her reaction.

"If you really are a shinobi, then you wouldn't have saved me or made yourself known." She said, eyes narrowing, intensifying her aggressive appearance.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, really confused now.

"A shinobi is an assassin who doesn't care for collateral damage, who will remain undetected by everyone, even his/her target, and is cold down to the core." She told him. "They know no honor, show no mercy and feel no sympathy." Immediately upon finishing speaking, she was frozen by an immense amount of KI released by Naruto as he flared his silvery blue chakra.

"I am not like that!" he growled. His voice seemed to resonate inside her bones. "I grew up to be a warrior, a person who guards those he cares about…"

The pressure lifted and the KI disappeared.

"Yes, I have been trained to move around unseen. Yes, there are times I did more collateral damage than needed, but NEVER have I endangered civilians!" Naruto told her, anger just underneath the surface. "Yes, I have killed people before, but never in cold blood. Those I killed were all on the Battlefield, facing me and my sword head on. Yes, I have killed people by attacking from behind, but that was in order to prevent them from killing those I care about. Yes, I have taken uncountable lives, but I have left far more live and change. You say shinobi feel no sympathy…" his tone did a complete 180, "…well, for many shinobi where I come from, that would be true. True sympathy can only be felt by those who have experienced similar experiences." He looked at her, pity in his eyes. "Someone like you would probably not understand the pain and suffering I went through."

"Then prove me wrong!" she told him. "You say that I don't understand you. Tell me your life's story, so that I can try to understand you, so I can look at you better…" she blushed slightly when she realized what she just said.

20 minutes later she was already regretting her initial outburst. She was absolutely appalled by the treatment Naruto had gotten as a young child. Even though she knew that there were people who had lives that were harder than hers, she had never heard of anyone surviving that amount of abuse.

Yes, she is an orphan and grew up in a mercenary world. So too did Naruto.  
Yes, she lost people close to her, but only one of them she considered family. Naruto lost at least 2.  
Yes, she initially got bullied. But she never got abused.  
She had distant cousins, though she never met them. Naruto was the last of his ENTIRE family tree.

She decided to learn more about him…maybe she could give him what he has always wanted…at least what he sounds like he has always wanted…

Naruto had finished his story and the room was silent. Ellen was about to respond to his life story, which she sensed was nothing but the truth…at least her heart sensed it…by telling him about her own life when there came a knock on the door.

"Eleonora-sama, there is a messenger here for you." Lim said, opening the door. She handed Ellen a scroll, which she opened.

"Why now of all times…" Ellen grumbled.

"Another Summons?" Lim asked.

"This time by the King himself." Ellen said.

"What does he want?" Lim asked, wariness in her voice.

"He wants a full verbal report on the Dinant Battle. Apparently there are some things in the written report that is being seen as lies by some in the royal council." Ellen said.

"If they are anything like the Council from where I come from, I can kill them if you'd like." Naruto told her.

"As much as I'd like you to do that…" Ellen began, "…I cannot allow you to do that. The council is not biased like yours. They just look at things in a different way." Ellen sighed. "They just want me to explain what I meant with there being someone falling from the sky." She turned to Naruto. "Meaning you are coming with me."

"Pass." Naruto said on reflex. He had enough dealing with the civilian council back home to know that it would likely be boring as hell.

"We are not going to the council…we are going to explain it directly to the king." Ellen said. Seeing Naruto was not convinced, she tried using his terminology. "In short, it is a summons by a Kage."

Now THIS Naruto understood. Lim face palmed.

"So, how was your time with the one who made you fall before him?" he asked Lim, taking her and Ellen completely by surprise…especially when the blonde one slightly misheard him, mistaking 'before' for 'for'… **(Read it yourself with the change in words)**

 _Flashback_

 _With Tigre, shortly after leaving the room_

 _Lim was keeping a stoic expression, but internally she was feeling slightly warm at the close proximity to Tigre. The feeling was also felt by Tigre…and neither of them knew why._

 _They soon encountered a bald man wearing light blue clothes._

 _"Good day to you, Limlisha-sama, Tigrevurmud-san." The man said, bowing._

 _Tigre didn't recognize him. Lim on the other hand…_

 _"Rurick-san, since when are you going Bald?" she asked. If would have sounded like teasing had she not used her usual stoic voice. Tigre's eyes widened in shock and surprise._

 _"Since someone threw a bucket of dried and powdered hair remover on my head." Rurick said. "I guess it was the gods's way of punishing me for what I did to Tigrevurmud-san."_

 _Realization dawned on Lim and Tigre's faces…the bucket, the powder, the scream…_

 _Lim would have continued leading Tigre to the dining hall had the message from the royal court not arrived at that moment. Sighing, she asked Rurick to lead Tigre instead._

 _Flashback end_

Naruto was laughing. "He calls a simple prank like that a punishment from the gods?" Ellen giggled and even Lim cracked a small smile, before his word fully sunk in.

"Wait…that was a simple prank?" she asked.

"Yeah. Sadly it wasn't as much fun as placing fart-bags inside teddy bears…" he suddenly found a sword at his throat. On the other side of the sword he saw Lim…with an absolutely murderous expression on her face.

"Any last words?" she asked.

 _'DON'T SAY THAT WITH THAT EXPRESSION AND A STOIC VOICE, DAMN IT!'_ Naruto mentally screamed.

"You may want to put that sword down, before I remove your underwear and throw it into the training yard." Naruto warned her.

Lim growled and pushed the sword forward. Ellen tried moving to stop her, but knew she wouldn't make it.

It happened in an instant. Naruto disappeared from her view and she was suddenly feeling her skirt lifting up.

She gave a girly cry and tried to cover herself up.

Naruto meanwhile had appeared next to Ellen.

"I did warn her." He said.

"Where are her panties?" Ellen asked. Naruto pointed at the door, which was open.

"Where I said they'd be." He said.

"Y-YOU DEMON!" Lim shouted. Ellen saw Naruto visibly wince and wondered why that was. In his story he never mentioned anything about a demon…only that he was called one.

Unfortunately for Lim, the back of her miniskirt had folded over and revealed her ass…and she was facing away from the door, where a small crowd of males were standing. Their faces left little need for guessing as to what they were thinking…one of them was even holding Lim's panties…

Ellen just began laughing. "Lim, unless you start being less tense, it will always be too much fun to tease you." She then pointed behind Lim.

Naruto wondered how it was possible for Lim's hair to take on the same color as her face…

Anyhow, the doctors and nurses would be busy for the rest of the day after Lim got her panties back…

After Lim had disappeared in embarrassment

"So, when are we leaving?" Naruto asked.

"After we get you some decent clothes." Naruto began to sweat at that, remembering the times he was thrown out of the tailor shop.

Ellen had to drag Naruto through the market area in order to get him to the tailor shop.

 **(1): My interpretation of Alsins if feet. Therefore, 300 alsins is the same as 300 feet…**

 **Chapter 2, The Troublemaker meets the King**

3 hours later

Ellen and Naruto, followed by 14 elite knights, rode out of the main gate towards the Capital city of Zhcted…well…Naruto hung to the horses neck for dear life, unused to the feeling of having a living being between his legs.

"How on earth can you…" Naruto's wailing was cut short when his horse jumped, driving the saddle up between his legs, hard. "…ride…like…this…" he squeaked. The others laughed at his discomfort.

They rode until evening when they reached the capital city, where Naruto began complaining about not being able to walk properly for a whole week…in a squeaky voice.

Shortly afterwards

Naruto was looking around the room he had just entered with twitching eyebrows.

He had been in hundreds of bedrooms in his life, 99.9% of them to pull pranks on the residents. The other 0.1% included his own bedroom and that of Granny Tsunade when she invited him over for a cup of Tea, and the rooms in the hospital…if those counted…

But none of them matched the sleeping quarters he had been assigned by Ellen…with it being the same room she was sleeping in…

Apart from the fact that she was basically slapping him in the face with a 'sleep with me' sign, he saw and smelled several issues with it:

The bed was big enough to hold 6 people. Judging by the name, he guessed that every king had 5 wives, he means, it is called a 'standard King sized bed'.  
The distance from the bed to the bathroom was longer than his old apartment building was tall, and he had to get through the nightmare known as a woman's wardrobe to get there.

Then there was the bathroom itself:

There was no shower, only a bath that was large enough to hold 12 members of the Akimichi clan **(FYI, Choji's clan)**. And it was heated by an underground fire…  
The washing basin was made from solid gold…Naruto considered sealing the thing in one of his seals.  
The mirror was large enough that 6 people could look into it and still have space between them.  
There were so many different scented soaps that they made Naruto feel nauseous…and he hadn't even gotten to the shampoos yet…

Then there were the security issues he had:

The main chamber (The bedroom) had four huge windows that held only 8mm thick glass…a green Genin could punch through that with ease…  
Not only was the glass thin, the frames practically screamed 'break me'.  
along the top of the room were several vents bring a supply of fresh, scented (stinky in his mind) air from who knows where. An assassin just needed to place a vial of poisonous gas into those ducts and they would never realize it.  
The only strong part in his mind was the door: 3 inches thick solid Oak wood reinforced by bands of forged Iron, if the Iron rivets were anything to go by…

All in all, his opinion was…

"This is a bloody death trap." He said. Ellen looked at him surprised. He had been in the room for less than 2 seconds and he was already moaning about it.

 _'Well, at least he isn't complaining about him sleeping with me.'_ She thought.

"I mean there are more security leaks in the main room alone than I have fingers." He continued, not catching the smirk she was giving her. "The bathroom has definitely been designed to kill me by means of scent overdose…" she was finding his blabbering highly amusing, even though she was busy undressing a few feet away from him. "The bed is designed to hold 6 people…" Naruto paused at that, taking on a thinking pose. "That would actually mean we can safely share the bed with enough space for each of us…" Ellen paused, standing in her birthday suit, reaching for her sleeping clothes, with a completely shocked expression on her face.

His reasoning was bringing her plan crumbling down on top of her.

Her face kept the problematic expression even after she finished dressing. Naruto, seeing her expression, said, "I can sleep on the floor if you don't want to share the bed."

"Oh, alright…" Ellen said, not thinking about what she was saying. She was thinking about just how clueless and dense the guy was.

Despite all this, her Mercenary training allowed her to sleep soundly, yet lightly, for the entire night.

Next day, late morning

Ellen was kneeling before her king wearing a long white dress that was even more revealing than her 'battle costume', as Naruto called her armor.

"Your Majesty, I, Eleonora Viltaria, have come to answer to thy summons." She said, addressing the old king.

While the king and Ellen were speaking, with a huge crowd watching, Naruto was standing upside-down on the ceiling, waiting for Ellen to call for him to approach.

Getting bored very quickly, he looked around…and immediately noticed 3 other figures, all of them female, giving of far greater levels of strength and power than the average person, though all of them were a long shot away from Ellen.

One was a short blue haired girl with breasts that would already have made Sakura jealous (Even though they were still small). Nevertheless he got the same vibe from her as he got from Sakura…this girl had a short temper…

The second was a blonde female with a bombshell body that would have given Granny Tsunade a run for her money in terms of looks. Naruto just hoped that this package didn't come with the anger issues…

The third one reminded him strongly of Mitarashi Anko, the sadistic proctor of the second part of the chunin exams. She had the hourglass body and purple hair that were almost identical to Anko. Also, Anko would have been proud of the amount of fan service this girl allowed…her chest was barely covered at all. However, unlike Anko, Naruto could smell the stench of trouble on her, almost as though she was planning something outright evil…

With those bits of information stored away in his mind, he returned his attention back to the one who brought him here.

 _'She really is nice…did I just think that?'_ he thought.

"And have you brought this…warrior with you to the Capital City?" the king asked. The effect was instantaneous. The majority of the crowd broke out in whispers. The blue haired girl took on a skeptical expression, the blonde smiled brightly and the sadistic purple haired one gained an evil grin as though she was already planning on doing something.

"Oh, please." He heard the blunette call out. "As though someone existed that could jump more than 30 alsins in the air even existed. She must be lying to cover the sacrificial losses she received during the Battle of Dinant."

"A valid point, Vanadis of Ice, Ludomira Lourie." The king said, before turning to Ellen. "What do you have to counter this accusation?"

Ellen looked around the crowd for a moment, then stood up. "This." She simply said, snapping her fingers. Almost instantly Naruto dropped down beside her.

"Request permission to speak my mind to one in the audience, your majesty." He said, bowing at the waist. Many whispers arose from the crowd at his unconventional way of speaking.

"Granted." The king said. The whispers immediately stopped…everyone was waiting for the unknown figure to speak.

"Very well. Young midget war maiden, just because Ellen here beats you in almost all areas doesn't mean you have to go and call her a liar or accuse her of something she never did. Really, is your growth going to your head to fill in the gaps…" he didn't finish as a spear hurtled toward him. However, to her utter shock and that of everyone else, even the king, he caught it by the tip, before jumping high over the crowd and depositing the spear on one of the chandeliers near the ceiling. Then he jumped down.

"Your temper is as short as you are tall, young one. You clearly don't know what some humans are capable of…" he suddenly disappeared just as a whistling noise was heard all around the room. He reappeared at the same time the whistling stopped, standing in front of the king, holding a crossbow bolt less than an inch from the kings face.

"Really…what is up with the assassins in this place and crossbows?" he asked, walking off of the dais towards a guard who came running. "Here you go." He said, handing over the bolt.

He then turned back to the king.

"I know that you may have questions, but I tell you know that I will answer all of them. Also, I will not serve you…" gasps filled the air. "Nor will I serve the purple haired sadist with the giant grass cutting tool…" said purple haired girl felt her eyebrow twitch at her weapon being called a 'grass cutting tool', "…the blond bimbo with the monks staff doesn't appear like someone who would need my help in her line of work,…" the blond vanadis just smiled at that, "…everyone here already knows about my opinion of the blue haired brat over there…"Ludomira bristled at that jab, "However, I have yet to meet the other three Vanadis to get an opinion of them, so I cannot speak for them yet. So far, only Ellen here is the one who needs my help." Naruto said. Everyone in the room was stunned.

"Young Warrior, firstly, what is your name and secondly, why do you say you won't work for me, when you say you will only work for Eleonora Viltaria?" the king asked.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki if I were to use the local method of giving ones name." Naruto introduced himself. "I know Ellen technically serves you, but I will only follow her commands, not those that come from you or anyone else. Also, be warned that should any of you try to force your command over me, I will not hesitate to…" he suddenly disappeared, "…burn this city or any for that matter to the ground." He had reappeared behind several people with knives at their throats…and there were more than one of him…

As soon as they all appeared, they all disappeared again and the original Naruto reappeared next to Ellen, who was almost as white as her hair.

"But be as ease. As long as nobody tries that, I will stand down." Naruto turned to Ellen. "Sorry about the last bit. Had to bring a point across to some people here." With that he disappeared, only to reappear with Ludomira's spear.

"I knew an ice user before." Naruto said to her, holding out the spear. "He was a boy who had strong beliefs and lived by them to the end." Ludomira took the spear, eyes wide at his words. "You are currently having a debate about whether or not to do something that goes against your beliefs. Choose wisely." Naruto began turning around. "Your choice will have consequences that will be felt by hundreds, if not thousands, of people." Naruto disappeared again…returning to the spot on the ceiling.

For a while the entire hall was just silent. Then as one every non-militaristic person in the room began shouting protests at his behavior and demanded his imprisonment or even his death.

 _'And this is why I hate the god damn council…'_ Naruto thought.

The noise continued for a short while before a deep rumbling laughter echoed through the hall, effectively silencing everyone. They all turned to the king, who was the origin of the laughter.

"You all have seen his power, have heard his words, yet none of you see the warmth of his heart and soul." He said, much to the shock of everyone minus two others, the one wearing a white dress and standing before the king and the other being the object of his words.

"If he can move unseen and do even half the things Eleonora told us about, do you honestly believe that he will let himself be captured just like that?" the king continued. "Though I didn't agree with his little demonstration, it told me that he is a man who lets his actions speak for him." He turned to Ellen. "I accept his words to serve only you. Make sure he guards the people." He told her.

She kneeled. "Yes, your Majesty." She said, joy evident in her voice.

Afterwards, outside the Hall

"My, my, Ellen, you have made quite the catch this time." Ellen turned around to see a tall blond female wearing white and green clothing approach.

"Sofya! It has been a while!" she greeted her old(er) friend.

"It has been indeed." Sofya said. "So, where is that hunk of yours?" she asked.

Ellen smirked. "Right behind you." She said.

"You know, that one is getting ol…" Sofya jumped when she felt something touch the back of her neck.

Naruto stood behind her with a twig he had gotten from who knows where in his hands.

"Don't say I didn't tell you." Ellen said, giggling. "He has a habit of moving around unseen and undetected."

"So he is what?" Sofya asked, beginning to worry.

"Let's just say that he grew up in a way that required him to be able to move unseen and quickly…not due to training, but for reasons I will not disclose out of respect for him." Ellen explained. "He self-taught himself those skills."

Sofya sighed in relief. "Where are you from, young warrior?" she asked Naruto.

"Another world…" he said bluntly.

"Huh?" Sofya and two others said.

"Who is there?" Ellen said, going on the defensive.

"The sadist and the midget." Naruto said. "They have been following you since you left that oversized room."

"Oh, so the potato is here, eh?" Ellen smirked.

"How is it you were able to touch Lavias?" said 'potato' asked, stepping around from behind a column. The pseudo exhibitionist did the same, just from the other side.

"Simple. Most people see a sword or a spear as an object. This forms a mental barrier between them and said weapon. Every weapon has a soul, and your weapons take that a step further. They are sentient." Naruto said, shrugging. "I just treated the spear like a living being. As a swordsman, I can safely say that connecting with the weapon's soul will make it a lot less likely that it will fail you in battle."

"You never said you were a swordsman." Ellen said.

"That is because my sword was broken during my last great battle." Naruto closed his eyes. "The power I put behind the blade had been too little to be able to withstand the blow that broke her core."

"I could take you to a weapons dealer if you like." Sofya said, feeling sorry for the man.

"I doubt there is a weapons dealer in this world that can create a sword that suits me." Naruto said with a sad smile. "No. I need a certain type of iron ore and a special forge, as well as certain grinding stones." He turned to the purple haired female. "And I would very appreciate it if I didn't have eavesdroppers." He said. "The forging technique is far too complex for the blacksmiths in this world and one cannot be taught this method by conventional means."

"Very well…" Ellen said. "Sofya, why don't you come by soon? We can talk more then."

"Would love too." The blond female said.

 **Chapter 3, The Sword and the Bow**

Two weeks later

Over the last 2 weeks Naruto had been working on forging a new sword. Ellen had at first tried giving him a normal forge, but Naruto immediately declined. He then went over to a nearby forest, some distance from the city, where he made several clones, much to Ellen's surprise, and had them start building the forge he needed. He then turned to Ellen.

"The type of Iron ore I need specifically is Iron sand of very high quality." He told her.

"Well, that is very easy to get here…There is tons of iron sand that our normal blacksmiths cannot use due to not being able to forge it very well." She said. _'Why does he specifically request Iron sand of all things?'_

"Alright, I'll need approximately 5 large barrels of that sand." Naruto told her.

"That much just to make one sword?" she was flabbergast.

"Actually that should be enough to make the required steel for 6 swords, but I will also be making a chunk of crude, soft iron that I can send over to your blacksmiths." He said.

Ellens head was filled with possibilities at what he was saying. If what he said was true, then he could make a fortune by turning the useless Iron sand into forgeable iron. But the concept was too foreign for her to understand so she didn't bother really. She left to get the rest of the things he needed, which included 10 large barrels of charcoal…

Also, Tigre had begun spending time giving the archers extra lessons and seemed to always be able to walk in on Lim when she was currently washing of the sweat after a long training exercise. At first she was embarrassed by it but gradually started softening up and came to expect it.

Tigre on the other hand never stopped being embarrassed by the sight and always apologized and turned around, waiting for the blush to disappear before walking off. During these times he got to learn more about the real Lim, who held up a stoic appearance in public but was very caring in private. He also was beginning to feel himself drawn to her…

On the 3rd day after returning from the capital, Naruto fired up the Furnace for the first and last time, feeding it iron sand and charcoal over the next three days and nights. **(1)**

Ellen came by to check on him, only to find him and several of his clones working on feeding said furnace. On one end she saw a hole where slag ran out and she wondered just how hot the furnace must be.

By the end of the third night, Naruto checked the core. Finding the color to be suitable, Naruto then began dismantling the furnace, making a wonderful mess out of the walls and still burning charcoal.

Ellen was there, along with Lim, Tigre and several blacksmiths to witness the unveiling of the lump of ex iron sand. The blacksmiths were skeptical, thinking that the iron would have remained in its sandy form because it wasn't hammered together like pieces of glowing metal. To their absolute surprise though out of the bottom of the furnace Naruto pulled a large lump of still glowing metal. Placing it on bricks he had laid out beforehand, he allowed the lump to cool down.

"Uhm, Naruto-san…" one of the blacksmiths began, "We heard that you can only make 6 swords out of this…just how big are the swords?"

"About 4 feet…alsins each plus a foot long handle." Naruto said, studying the cooling mass of iron.

"Then what will happen to the rest?" another blacksmith asked.

"Break it up, send it over to you." Naruto shrugged before fetching a hammer. He had been subtly using wind jutsu to speed up the cooling process.

The audience watched as he broke of small chunks of iron and then studying them, discarding some and placing others in a neat pile to his side.

"In case you are wondering, the steel I need can only be found on the outside of this lump, but some pieces have too many impurities in them." Naruto explained. Eventually he had a reasonably sized pile of steel chunks at his side.

"You guys can break this lump up and take whatever pieces you want." Naruto told the Blacksmiths, putting the steel chunks in a bag and heading over to his hut to sleep…the last three days had mentally drained him.

The next day Naruto began forging his new sword. Unfortunately for Ellen and the blacksmiths, who had discovered that the iron chunks they had gotten from him made for very high quality iron, were barred from witnessing his forging techniques.

"It is a spiritual and sacred event, forging a sword like the one I am making." One of Naruto's clones apologized to them.

For the next 6 days and nights Naruto hammered the steel. As he was free from prying eyes, there was little to hold him back from using chakra, so the forging process went by pretty quickly. By the end of the 2nd day he had finished the actual forging and went on to polishing and sharpening the blade.

At the beginning of the 7th day he opened the doors of his smithy, to find Ellen standing there with the usual crowd and some new faces.

"I still need something else before the sword is complete." Naruto said, locking the door behind him and disappearing.

20 minutes later he returned with a bundle of hard wood. He disappeared back into the building. Three hours later he came out again, holding a sword the likes of which none of them had ever seen before.

The sword was bent slightly and the sheath and the handle were both black in color.

Other than that, it didn't look like anything special to the blacksmiths. Unique, but not special. Naruto just shrugged, before drawing the blade less than halfway, sending the blacksmiths searching for their eyes, which had popped out.

"That…" Lim and Tigre began, but stopped when Naruto held out a smaller knife.

"Tigre-san. I think a hunter like you needs a knife like this." Tigre took the knife from Naruto and drew it. He marveled at the fine quality, then went to test the sharpness of the blade.

"Uhm…I wouldn't do that if I…" Naruto's warning came too late as Tigre's finger touched the edge, cutting deeply into his thumb. "…were you." Naruto finished.

"Is your sword as sharp as that knife?" Lim asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." Naruto said, nodding. "It's why I didn't draw it completely from its sheath."

"If it is that sharp, then there is no way you could parry a blow from a normal sword." Ellen said.

"Wielding a Katana requires a different fighting style than what all of you are used to." Naruto said.

"It can't be that different to ours…" one of the soldiers who had drifted over to see what the commotion was about, said.

"The Style I use cannot be taught to the likes of you!" Naruto told him bluntly. "Or anyone else here…except maybe for Tigre."

"Oh? And why is that?" another soldier growled. Naruto had unknowingly hurt their pride.

"From what I have seen, the fighting style most of you use is based more on strength than anything else, correct?" Naruto asked. He got several nods in return. "The style I am using belonged to my long deceased clan. It is based on a core fighting style that get ingrained into muscular memory from the day we could walk, and from there each of us either developed their own style based on the core style, or learned one of three main styles. Each of those styles cannot be taught without having learned the core style." **(2)**

Naruto paused to take in a breath. "These three styles, whilst having the same core, are completely different from each other. The first relies heavily on rapid counterattacking. The second relies on agility, dodging the enemies attacks. The third one is based on defense and is meant to wear the opponent down, then strike when there is an opening."

"And which one do you use?" Ellen asked.

"I have my own style." Naruto said. He decided not to tell them about his other style…which involved overrunning the enemy with large numbers…

"Care for a demonstration?" the soldier asked.

"A battle would be nice to refresh my skills." Naruto shrugged, making the spectators sweat drop.

"Why a battle?" they asked.

"Because my style can only be used at its fullest when used without restriction." Naruto said bluntly.

"Without restriction?" they asked. Even Ellen asked.

"My style is called the 'Blood spiral style' for a reason, you know." Naruto told them. Slowly the blood drained from their faces as the meaning of Naruto's words seeped into their minds.

"Didn't you say you preferred not to kill people?" Lim asked.

"I did, but in Battle, it is a case of Kill or be Killed, as you and Ellen, being former mercenaries, should know all too well." Naruto told her. This shocked Ellen and Lim. Tigre had already been told by Lim and thought that it was common knowledge.

"H-how do you know that? I don't remember telling you any of it…" Ellen said.

"It is being practically shouted in your body language." Naruto told them. "You never walk around without a weapon of some kind at your side, the daggers hidden in your boots not included. Also, from the times I have seen you sparring, I could tell that your fighting styles are based on different ratio of the strength-agility-stamina triangle." Naruto explained. "That led me to conclude that you are either from another country, which seems unlikely due to you being ranked immediately below the king, or you your style has been taught by someone who is frequently in battle and has seen hundreds of styles in his/her life. Lastly, you never said that you hesitated to take lives, nor did you say that you don't prefer to NOT take them. That is one part of the basic mentality that is universal to mercs everywhere. Should I continue?" Naruto asked.

"No thanks…you know, you are smarter than you let on." Ellen said. Naruto shrugged.

"That was just common observation…" he was interrupted by the sound of several people falling to the floor… he turned to see everyone having face planted on the floor.

"What is wrong?" Naruto asked.

 _'I-if THAT was common observation…'_ Lim thought.

 _'…then he is either a genius with an idiot streak or a complete idiot with a genius streak.'_ Ellen finished the thought.

Timeskip, evening

Tigre was lying in his bed, thinking about the events that happened today.

First, in the morning, he once again walked in on Lim washing herself. Then he joined her and Ellen and the crowd of blacksmiths to go and visit Naruto, as he was almost done with his sword, only to find him leaving for a while to get wood.

But what held his mind for the longest was what happened afterwards.

"Common observation…" he muttered to himself. Now that he thought about it, Naruto was correct on everything he said. Ellen and Lim were definitely different to the average soldier here.

 _'And Lim sure has a nice…'_ He shook his head to clear his mind of whatever he was about to think. A sudden knock on his door certainly helped.

He opened the door to find Rurick.

"We have captured an old man with a Brunish accent." Rurick told him. "He was specifically asking for you."

Tigre blinked a few times, wondering who would come asking for him now of all times.

Shortly afterwards

Rurick and Tigre walked onto the archery range, where some of Rurick's men stood around a cloaked figure.

Despite the hood covering the man's face, Tigre immediately recognized him.

"Bertrand!" he called out.

"Young Master!" Bertrand said, tears in his eyes. "Thank goodness you are alright."

"Thank goodness YOU are alright!" Tigre told him.

"So you DO know him after all." Rurick said.

"Thanks, everyone! Bertrand has been my attendant for ages!" Tigre told everyone there.

"Young Master, there is no time for this." Bertrand said, drawing everyone's attention. "Duke Thenardier's force is marching towards Alsace!" Tigre's face went from confused to stunned… "They number at least 3,000!" …then to shocked.

"They're WHAT?!" Tigre shouted.

Very short time later

"Please come back, Sir Tigrevurmud!" Rurick called out. Tigre was currently walking towards the main gate, determined to go and save his home.

When he was in sight of the gate, he stopped.

Blocking his path was none other than Ellen, and out on the corner of his eyes he could see Lim standing in the shadows of the gatehouse. He could see no sign of Naruto, but his Hunter instincts told him that he was somewhere nearby.

"Where are you planning on going this late at night?" Ellen asked.

"Please let me pass." Tigre told her.

"That's a very pretty lady…is she really a War Maiden?" Bertrand asked.

"Yes, she is…and everyone here agrees with your first statement." Rurick told him. "Our mistress, Wind Princess of the Silver Flash, also known as the Danseuse of the Sword, Lady Eleonora Viltaria."

"Please let me pass. I must return to Alsace!" Tigre said.

"Have you forgotten where you stand?" Ellen asked.

"Thenardier is sending troops to Alsace!" Tigre said. "It will be too late to act once the town is in flames! So please, let me go!" The tension in the air began rising. "Once I have finished, I will return. I swear!"

"And what are you going to do once you get to Alsace?" Ellen asked.

"What am I…? Defend the fiefdom, of course!" Tigre answered.

"And how are you going to do that?" Ellen asked.

Naruto, who was sitting on the gatehouse, snickered…Ellen was practically grilling him.

"How…?" Tigre asked.

"I know of you skill with a bow. But what can you do all alone?" she asked. "You may have skill and resolve, but alone against an enemy of 3,000? It's a fool's errand." she looked at him. "Don't be shocked. I have pretty sensitive hearing and I heard Mr. Bertrand talk to you."

"I know that!" Tigre told her, raising his voice.

"You know that, and you're still going?" She asked.

"But I have to…I have to go and at least do something, don't I?" he said.

"What can a haphazard, unthinking person like yourself possibly do?!" Ellen called out, drawing her sword. To Tigre's shock, the cross-guard transformed.

"I told you, the penalty for running away is death." She continued. "If you wish to die that badly, you may as well meet your end here. Dying in Leitmeritz would be no different than dying in Alsace."

"Then you won't let me go, no matter what?" Tigre asked.

"Do you understand what it is that is bothering me?" Ellen asked. Tigre looked at her questioningly. "Why don't you use your wits? After trying to turn things to your advantage, however little, under the circumstances at Dinant, why are you now about to act on your emotions, without thinking, when there's nothing you can do?"

"I don't know what to tell you…" Tigre began, before noticing something. _'Why doesn't she just strike me down? She could easily order Rurick and the others to seize me, too.'_

 _'Seems like he is finally noticing it.'_ Naruto and Lim thought…to the latter's surprise.

 _'Is she…trying to provide me with a chance?'_ Tigre thought. "I have a favor to ask."

"Hmm?" Ellen looked at him.

"Please lend me your troops." Tigre said out loudly. Rurick and the others looked like all hell was about to break loose. Lim had the wide-eyes-open-mouth level of surprise…as did Ellen for a moment.

Naruto…well…he congratulated the archer for being unexpected, yet also smart.

After a moment of stunned silence, Ellen began chuckling, then went into full blown laughter.

"Oh wow…that was so audacious, it was actually refreshing…I haven't laughed that hard in years." Ellen said.

Tigre felt his hair begin to be swayed back and forth by a breeze.

"You want me to lend you them?" Ellen asked. "Very well. But not for free, of course."

"How much?" Tigre asked.

"All of Alsace." She answered.

"If you will guarantee a fair government, and a safe way of life for the residents…" Tigre began.

"No hesitation, huh?" Lim asked herself. "Maybe I should try that with him…"

As she walked away, Ellen called out for a small army to assemble, and the cry soon woke up every single person in the city…many residents growled because they were awoken from a peaceful sleep…

With Naruto

 _'So…that sword can control the winds…'_ the shinobi thought, feeling the breeze ruffling his hair.

Thanks to the shadows he was sitting in, nobody saw that his eyes were no longer blue, but gold, with black horizontal pupils. Surrounding his eyes were orange markings.

He SAW the sword emitting a strange energy that manipulated the air current around it in a large area

Timeskip, an hour later

The ground shook as 1,000 horses galloped across the countryside, followed closely by another 2,000 unoccupied horses and more slowly, by roughly 3,000 foot soldiers and the baggage train.

Oh…and there was one person keeping up with the front of the riders…and he was on foot.

"You really don't like riding, do you?" Ellen asked.

"No way…the last time you put me on a horse, it nearly killed me." Naruto told her. Those who heard him chuckled. It was common knowledge by now that Naruto couldn't ride to save his life.

"They are almost like a married couple, aren't they?" Tigre asked Lim.

"I wouldn't know…never been married before." The blonde shrugged.

"Good point." Tigre said. Bertrand, riding behind them, and Rurick shook their heads.

 _'You and Lim are like a married couple…'_ they both thought.

Ellen then thought back to the aftermath of her discussion.

 _Flashback_

 _"I was surprised. I didn't expect him to ask you to lend him your troops." Lim said. Naruto, who was standing on the other side of the spear head shaped dais, said nothing._

 _"He betrayed all of our expectations, huh?" Ellen said._

 _"If by 'our' you mean you and Lim's…" Naruto said. "I was expecting him to do the unexpected."_

 _"Well, you yourself are that which is least expected from anyone, Naruto." Ellen said, before addressing Lim."You said Tigre would challenge me to an archery contest."_

 _"And you thought he would ask you to make him one of his subordinates." Lim said. "Considering that you couldn't lead him to the answer you desired, you and me ended up losing this wager, Lady Eleonora."_

 _"At least be glad that you don't have to pay up to anyone." Naruto muttered, too low for the others to hear him…that or they didn't show that they heard._

 _"It's not a bet if both of us lose, right?" Ellen asked._

 _A knock came from the door._

 _"He is here…" Lim began with great enthusiasm…before burning up in embarrassment when she realized what she did._

 _"Oh…Lim has an eye out for someone…" Ellen teased as she called for Tigre to come in._

 _"You're going into battle dressed like that?" Ellen asked after Tigre closed the door. "You are, ostensibly, the commander of an army."_

 _"Well, this is all I have." He answered. Behind him Naruto was whispering in Lim's ear._

 _"What are we going to do about you?" she said after he finished whispering, stepping forward and handing Tigre her helmet. "There's no time now; you'll have to go like this." To Tigre's great displeasure, she began flattening his hair, enjoying every single second of it. "However, we can at least comb your hair, to make it a litte neater." She decided to thank Naruto for the advice later._

 _Before he could answer, Ellen joined in, smiling as she straightened Tigre's hair as well._

 _Naruto had to hold back his laughter at the sight._

 _Soon Tigre stood before both Lim and Ellen, hair nice and tidy…well mostely…a clump slipped back into its old position._

 _"Hmm? What's wrong?" Ellen asked, seeing his eyes constantly switching between Ellen and Lim. "Are you perhaps stuck with admiration?" she asked._

 _"He's probably wondering why Lim doesn't wear a combat outfit like yours." Naruto said, leaning against the wall, eyes closed and hands behind his head._

 _Tigre's blush was the same color as his hair. Naruto had struck a bull's eye there._

 _"If she wishes, I could create a set of armor based on Ellen's that will have the same armor rating as light plate mail but will weigh a lot less." Naruto spoke up."Unfortunately, the individual parts will not be very flexible, so I won't make one for you Tigre. Someone who was raised as a Hunter needs all the flexibility he can get." Naruto added._

 _"And you are telling us about this now?" Ellen asked. She had been trying to get Lim to wear something a bit more revealing…actually A LOT more revealing than her plate armor that covered everything._

 _"I may take you up on that offer." Lim said, blushing slightly._

 _"That would definitely make him say, how pretty." Naruto teased._

 _Tigre didn't argue the point as his hair decided it had had enough about being neat and went back to its messy style._

 _Flashback end_

Ellen smiled at the memory.

"The enemy numbers 3,000! We are 1,000! Do you think we can win?!" she shouted over her shoulder at Tigre.

"They don't know the lay of the land!" Tigre shouted back. "I doubt anyone from the House of Thenardier has visited Alsace in some time! I know most if not all of Alsace's countryside!"

"So we have the advantage of the terrain." Ellen said.

 _'Not much of an advantage…'_ Naruto thought. Theories and beliefs such as 'Home ground advantage' and 'Terrain Advantage' and 'a bend in a river makes for an excellent defense' meant little in the shinobi world. The first and second was shattered if an invading force knew how to fight in the terrain and the third was shattered by the basic ability of shinobi to walk on water.

"All right, let's win this!" Ellen shouted out. Loud cries of agreement greeted her.

 _'At least they have stong resolve and moral.'_ Naruto thought, unconsciously speeding up his sprint.

"How can someone on foot move that fast?" one of the knights shout-asked.

"At least he is on our side…if he moves that fast, he can definitely prove to be an asset against the enemy." Tigre shouted back. His words helped improve the moral even more.

The next morning, near Alsace

Several farmers paused their work as they looked at the passing army…or more precisely, the two dragons that walked at the head of the army.

Even though they have never seen dragons before, they knew that something big was about to happen.

Everyone knew that a great battle was about to happen.

What nobody knew was that said battle would light the fuse to the powder keg between two of the most powerful people in the Kingdom…

 **(1): I am talking about a Tatara, an ancient Japanese smelting furnace…**

 **(2): Since Naruto in Canon isn't a swordsman, I am giving him a good reason not to teach others his style…**

 **And done! Writing two stories at once can be a bit mentally taxing, having to make sure that the two stories do not relate in any way.**

Message to you readers from the Author

Hi all. I was wondering if you would be willing to help me with something. I initially had planned on making Ellen make several attempts to make Naruto notice her attraction to him, spread out over the next several chapters. Unlike my first two stories where the romance began close to the beginning, I am planning on making Naruto and Ellen begin their romance more at the middle.

I would like you all to help me with this by sending me scenarios where Ellen tries to make Naruto notice her feelings and Naruto either doesn't get the message or something happens that makes Ellen's effort futile. Please Note that this is NOT a must, just a request for help.

Please Note 2: Sending Naruto's reaction is not required.

I'll make an exception to my rule of 'No Guests allowed to review/PM' for this, as long as the reviews from those who fall under that category are responses to this message.

My Ideas so far:

-In Alsace, the evening before the Battle on the plains; Ellen tries to seduce Naruto with her assets.

-Shortly after the battle Ellen pulls Naruto into her breasts.

-Ellen tries sneaking into Naruto's room, only to be caught in traps.

-Ellen tries using a love potion.

This is everything I have so far. Please help me come up with 4 others.

Yet another Please Note: I will not accept ideas that involve Ellen writing 'I LOVE YOU' on a board and slapping Naruto in the face with it.


	2. Chapter 3 - Chapter 6

**Greetings all. And welcome to this new Upload…I keep on wanting to write chapter, but that would be controversial to write chapter when there are three chapters in the upload. And writing about three chapters as though they were a singular entity (And still calling it chapter/chapters) sounds weird.**

 **Anyway, now that my introduction is basically ruined, let's skip it entirely…**

 **Answers/Comments to Reviews/PM's:**

 **(Please Note that those who PM'd me will be labeled as anonymous and the answers/comments are basically just copied from the reply PM's I sent…with slight modifications…)**

 **Anonymous:** For the first part: I might just do that, but it will mean that I will need 5 more options...What do you think about this idea: Ellen sneaks into his room, planning to release an airosolized love potion right in his face, only to trip over one of Naruto's traps and breaking the bottle, releasing the contents right in her face…I may still change it though, but this sounds like a pretty good (and mean) fail of an attempt…

For the second part: I am going to try something different with my current two stories, 'A fox is Semper Fidelis' and 'Lord Troublemaker and Vanadis'. In my previous stories, the romancing began close to the beginning, so I am trying something else this time.

Thanks for the review though.

 **REVANOFSITHLORD:** I don't like giving the Main MC's harems because it just makes it more difficult to focus on a singular plot/timeline (As in, if I create a Harem from scratch, I'll have to create the Harem member's individual personalities, the way they approach the Harems focus [If that is the correct term], how the conflict between the different parties builds and the choices the target needs to make to keep the parties from starting a full scale civil war, etc.).  
In my cases, it is mostly the MCs that are brought into the current world from somewhere else will (usually) have a single person they develop romantic feelings for. (Option B is no romance at all). This comes from my personal belief that every person should remain loyal to only one partner for extended periods of time (Not like having a new love interest every frikken week/month or year…I am talking about time-spans of decades.)

In the Madan no Ou to Vanadis Canon, Tigre already has a Harem, so I'll just use that as a base and expand on it, minus Ellen of course. This makes it a lot easier as I can mould the conversations and the actions somewhat to suit the stories needs, but still link it closely to the Canon.

Now I know this all sounds kinda controversial, let me just say this: If there is a harem in the Canon timeline, I'll have to integrate it somehow into my stories because it is a secondary focus in the Canon (usually) as well as building the romance in such a way that makes the ultimate outcome predictable, yet unpredictable (As in, the flirting of the harem members will affect how the romance plays out and all).

 **READER1O1O:** I like Ideas 1EX and 3EX. I actually laughed when I first read those, and I already have Ideas on how to tweak them slightly and finally integrate them…though don't expect them to appear any time soon. 2EX…well…we PM'd each other about that already, but to those who are interested to hear what my reasoning for not choosing it was, here it is. And I quote my own message here…ask READE1O1O for confirmation If you want…

"2EX just won't work…I mean, do you have any Idea just how dense Naruto is? Her being naked will probably be seen by him as her trying to use the 'naked socializing' activity…and yes, that is a real thing…and Naruto knows about it because, well…HE SPENT 2 1/2 YEARS WITH THE WORLDS BIGGEST PERVERT…"

End Quote.

And if you are wondering what his review was, I am sure that you can view it on the review page. If not, feel free to PM me about it and I will send you a copy of his review…only the three options though, not his view on the story so far.

 **UnwantexNox:** Thanks for the like. #ThumbsUp

 **TheCasualReader:** I realize that Naruto doesn't have the idiotic personality in the first few chapters, but please note that I have incorporated his density. Also, please remember that tensions were still rather high at the time...and I don't think I placed Naruto in any conversations that were above common knowledge (For him at least). In Canon Naruto is surprisingly observant and a very quick thinker, hence the appearance that he is quite smart.

I will try to put as much of his canon personality from here on out though, so be prepared for questions about his…mental capabilities…

As for the OOC part, let me put it this way. Every single story involving Naruto going to another World/Dimension/Timeline Has him with Kurama still in his stomach…at least from those I have read…I will admit that I haven't read that many Naruto fanfiction, but do you honestly expect me to read over 200 thousand stories?

Now, as Kurama had been extracted right at the beginning of this story, I had to give him an edge somewhere. Therefore I had the deity (Who was actually the shinigami) give Naruto some of two people's life forces...I had planned on making it appear so that Naruto was given the life forces from his parents. If you wish to look at it from one side, his mother was a master with a sword (In my mind at least...not sure about Canon), so that could be where the swordsman part comes from and his father was super fast (Even without the Hiraishin no Jutsu).

Also, who is to say that Naruto didn't have a hidden talent in swordsmanship?

As for the blacksmithing, I gave it to him with the reasoning that after learning he had a talent for swordsmanship the weapons dealers refused to sell him any swords, so he had to learn to make his own. As for the sword techniques…I did say that Naruto had his own style…I never said that he could use the style from his clan…

I hope this will answer your questions.

And many thanks for the constructive criticism.

 **RexTheMighty:** Sneaking into a shower…really? From what I know Naruto ALWAYS showers in ice cold water…she'd be out of the room faster than he could blink.

Asking him out for food sounds like a good Idea…and now that I think about it, I already know how to make the plan fail. #EvilLaugh

Thanks for the like.

 **Massivereader-Reviewer:** Naruto's comment:

To the first suggestion:

"Which Battle are you talking about? Aren't there several in the upcoming future?"

To the second one:

"I do remember telling her I'd…wait…SHE MEANT WHAT?"

My comment: Taking a note from the Priestess will be difficult…I'd have to structure it so that the wording fits Ellen's normal personality; make it very obvious what she means, yet also in such a way that someone *cough* Naruto *cough* will misunderstand it…again…

Still, I appreciate the support and like though.

 **Chillman22:** I have never watched Rurouni Kenshin, and I have only played one of the DMC games, where the style is basically just hack and slash...and hope for the best...

 **:** You are asking for a recipe for disaster…I like it…

 **pandabear247:** The scene with Yamato has already prompted me to write something like that in here…you will probably love it.

The Shion scenes could be placed in a flashback, but the reverse summoning sounds like a good Idea…especially if Naruto ends up with a bug Ramen mouthful…

 **bladetri:** Thanks for the like.

 **Thank you all of the above people who reviewed.**

 **Now, onto what all of you readers have opened this webpage for…**

 **Chapter 4**

Zion Thernadier rode at the head of the 3,000 strong army, daydreaming about the slaughter and destruction of Alsace. He thought back for the Xth time on when he got his two dragons, both of whom were accompanying his army to destroy Alsace…and one of whom was serving as his mount…

 _Flashback_

 _Zion walked into his father's audience chamber, which was illuminated by reddish lamps. Standing approximately halfway between the door and his Father's throne was the chief advisor._

 _"You called for me, Father?" Zion asked._

 _"I have something I want you to do." Count Thenardier said. He was a big man whose face was surrounded by hair from his beard and normal hair…and wasn't below intimidating his own family members, even though he deeply cared for them._

 _His gaze, and that of Zion, went over to the map hanging like a tapestry on the wall to his right. "Take 3,000 troops and head toward Alsace." He said._

 _"Alsace? The territory of that miserable Vorn, who unceremoniously got himself taken prisoner?" Zion asked. "Why would I…"_

 _His father interrupted his next question. "I have…a parting gift for you."_

 _A pair of deep screeching roars startled Zion as he, his father and the advisor entered what seemed to be a dungeon, but was in reality something a lot more frightening. Turning towards the source of the roars, he saw two monstrous creatures. Immediately Zion's surprise turned to greedy pleasure as he recognized them as dragons, more specifically, a Wyvern and an Earth Dragon. His fingers were unconsciously twitching in enthusiasm._

 _"We're almost done breaking him in." the Advisor told Zion, speaking about the Wyvern that Zion was admiring. "If you take him into battle today, he will perform magnificently."_

 _"You're giving this dragon to me?!" Zion asked. He laughed evilly. "Just you watch, Vorn! I'm going to burn you whole territory down!"_

 _"You are taking the Earth Dragons as well." His father told him. Said dragon released yet another roar, but Zion was far from startled or scared…if it were possible, his already evil smirk became even more so._

 _Flashback end_

Zion temporarily snapped out of his daydream and looked around, seeing several people turning to watch his army pass.

"That's it. Slowly, so they get a good look." Zion called out to his men, who had long since leaving gotten used to the intimidating presence of the two dragons. They were also thankful that their horses were raised in close proximity to these beasts so they wouldn't run away…

"Think hard whether you're with the House of Thenardier, or the House of Ganelon, you men and women of Brune!" he shouted out, not caring if any of the spectators heard him. He ended his outcry with an evil laugh.

Masked by the ever present sounds of horses stepping on the ground, he didn't hear the moans coming from some of his knights, many of whom wondered how this prick managed not to get himself killed by the dragons.

Meanwhile, back with Count Thernardier

"So then, the reason why you sent Lord Zion to Alsace is…" Thenardier's strongest warrior began.

"Now that Prince Regnas has fallen in battle, it leaves none left capable of ruling as king." Thenardier said. "The hegemony of Brune rests wither with me, or with Ganelon. It will have to be settled at some point." He looked at the map. "Alsace…it is indeed a land of little to no improtance. Too far removed from the center. However, Ganelon may snatch it up."

"So you're reducing it to ashes?" the soldier asked. "Still, sending 3,000 soldiers to such a remote location…not to mention those two dragons…"

"It's because they are weak that we must be thorough." Thenardier began smirking. "I also want that dragon to become accustomed to Zion. He may be a loud mouth, but Zion still has some talent at being a strategist…if only a little…"

In Alsace

The people of Alsace were currently undergoing a mass exodus, leaving their homes and heading into hiding in the woods or the mountains, while the elderly population took refuge in the temple.

And of course, Titta was helping those who went to the temple.

 _Flashback_

 _"I'll stop Ganelon's movement one way or another." Mashas said. He, Bertrand and Titta were currently standing in the main hallway of the Vorn Mansion, discussing their next course of action. "Bertrand, you go to Zhcted and inform Tigre of this matter."_

 _"Leave it to me." Bertrand said. "I shall be sure to bring the young lord back with me."_

 _"Titta, you evacuate the residents together with the soldiers." Mashas told the young maid. "Those who have the strength will go to the mountains or the woods. Those who don't will go to the temple. Not even Thenardier will want to make an enemy of the temple now."_

 _"Right!" Titta said._

 _Flashback end_

"Titta, what are you doing?" A passing Alsace soldier asked. "Aren't you taking refuge outside the city?"

"I'm staying with the estate." She answered. "I want to be there to greet Lord Tigre when he returns."

Shortly afterwards Titta was standing before what technically could be considered the symbol of the House of Vorn: a Black Bow with long arrows that have red fletchings.

An ghost like memory appeared in her eyes as she stared at the bow. Tigre, just before heading out to join the army heading towards Dinant, offered his respects to his ancestry at the bow.

 _Flashback_

 _"Every time I look at that bow, I think to myself, 'Something about it seems stuffy'." Tigre said, eating the breakfast Titta had prepared for him._

 _"You mustn't say that, Lord Tigre." Titta, who was standing next to him, holding a jug of water. "It is a precious family heirloom, left to you by your forebears."_

 _"That's why I pay my respects every day." Tigre said. "I did it today, too, like always. It's been two years now since Father died. I'm still not much of a feudal lord, but Bertrand is here, and you're here, Titta. It's because of you two that we're getting by as well as we are."_

 _Titta may have taken his words the wrong way as she blushed and stuttered, "W-what's come over you all of a sudden this morning?" she quickly calmed down. "This isn't like you, Lord Tigre!"_

 _"Thanks." With that single word, Tigre sent her blushing again._

 _"No! Please stop that! Let me see you off the way I always do!" Titta cried out, beginning to cry. This wasn't the Tigre she knew at all…_

 _At the main gate_

 _Bertrand stood before the hundred men that would accompany him and Tigre to join the Crown Prince._

 _"The young lord will be here soon." Bertrand told them. "Though, I'm sure he's catching hell from Titta for oversleeping again." Everyone laughed at that as Tigre was notorious in the area for oversleeping._

 _Back at the Mansion_

 _"Why? Why must you go out to war, Lord Tigre?" Titta asked._

 _His Majesty has called us up. As a count in the Kingdom of Brune, and head of the House of Vorn, it's only right." Tigre told her. Her fears didn't ease up by a single millimeter._

 _"But…" she said._

 _"It's all right. It's a huge army." Tigre said. "We're just going to be placed at the rear." He laid his hand on her shoulder. "I promise, I'm coming back."_

 _Flashback end_

Titta awoke from the memory to find herself clutching the black bow as she cried to the images of Tigre riding off to war.

"Lord Tigre…" she muttered, "You're coming back. You're coming back, right, Lord Tigre?"

Loud screams and the sound of breaking wood snapped her back to reality.

"Lord Tigre!" she said.

In the city

Shouts of glee were heard all over the city as soldiers rampaged across the city, Pillaging and Looting whatever they fancied.

On a hill overlooking the city, Zion smirked and giggled in joy.

Some soldiers assembled in the courtyard before the temple, raising their voices and their weapons in victory.

Inside the temple the people seeking refuge huddled together in fear.

With Zion

"Hmph. With a town as flew-bittn as this one, there's not much thrill in smashing it up." Zion mumbled. He looked back at his pets. "It would be fun in one sense, if we used the dragons, but I can't go against the word of my father."

 _Flashback_

 _"The dragons are not yet used to the smells of towns. Make sure to keep them inside the town." The advisor said._

 _"What?! Then there is no point, is there?!" Zion protested. "There IS a point!" his father said, scaring him. "You use the dragons to daunt them. And not just Alsace. This is a warning to the whole land of Brune: 'Consider going against Thenardier to be forfeiting your lives!'"_

 _Flashback end_

"What? There are no residents?!" Zion asked the soldier reporting in incredulously.

"It appears they fled into the forests, and the remainder seem to have holed up inside the temple." The soldier reported. "What shall we do?"

"The temple is off-limits. If we attack the temple, we'll turn all of Brune's temples against us. Leave them be!" Zion ordered. His frustration eased when his eyes turned towards the lone mansion on the other side of the city. Letting out an evil laugh, he said, "The Vorn home, huh?"

Sometime later

Titta was standing at a partially opened window, watching as the soldiers rampaged through the city.

"Lord Tigre…" her words were cut off by the sound of stuff breaking downstairs.

Running lightly down the steps, she saw that it was none other than Zion Thenardier making a mess of everything downstairs. Her sudden sharp intake of breath drew his attention to her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with all the defiance she could muster.

Zion took on a lecherous expression. "Quite a fine young lady, aren't you?" he asked.

Titta, feeling repulsed, told him to leave.

"Huh?" Zion asked, holding a hand behind his ear. "I'm not sure I heard you. It looks like that Vorn imbecile is lousy at grooming his maids, too." He said in a mocking tone, then added in a completely dead-panned voice, "Go on, say it one more time."

"Go away." Titta said.

"What? Speak up, I can't hear you." Zion lied. He could very well hear her, but was relishing her discomfort.

"I told you to get out of here!" Titta screamed. "This estate and this town belong to Lord Tigre! Don't you lay one finger on anything! You heard what I said, now fuck off! Get out!"

Zion, climbing the steps towards her, drew his sword. Titta, who was scared out of her mind, tried to retreat.

Suddenly her skirt was shredded by a slash from the lecherously smirking Zion, making her run to one of the cupboards and frantically searching through it.

"Already done with the game of tag?" Zion smirked as he approached her. Her answer was charging at him with the dagger she had hidden in the shelf. With no effort whatsoever, Zion sent the dagger flying into the ceiling with his sword, then forced her back against the wall, holding the tip of his sword at her throat. Her then began cutting her outfit from throat to groin, cutting through all layers to the skin, yet not placing a single scratch on her. He smirked as her breasts and womanhood made their appearance. **(1)**

Destroying her clothes made little impact on her personality, much to Zion's disappointment.

She continued calling out Tigre's name.

"Huh, what is this girl?" he asked. "You, a maid, harboring feelings for your master?"

"No, that's not true!" Titta violently protested.

"Right about now, that Vorn guy hasn't paid his ransom, and is probably being sold into slavery." Zion said, forcing her to back away as he approached. He pointed his sword in her face. "Shall I do the same with you? If you're lucky, you may be able to see him again." Her face grew angry at his words.  
"You'll be fellow slaves. You might gain your desire!"

When Titta all but shouted at him that Tigre would return, he grabbed the bow she was still holding and threw her onto her back, tearing the bow out of her fingers. Like a piece of wood, Zion threw the bow to the side, fortunately within arms' reach of Titta. When when Titta tried reaching for the bow, he grabbed both of her arms with one hand while the other began groping her breasts.

"Go ahead and gasp all you like, while calling out his name!" Zion said as he stopped groping her breasts and moved his hand to tear of her remaining clothing.

Due to him having lecherous thoughts and Titta being frozen by fear, neither of them heard the arrow whizzing through the air. Suddenly Zion was thrown back with his hand pointing right at the sky.

Titta had her eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable rape that was to happen, but opened them when it never came. Her eyes widened as she saw the reason for the end of the molestation.

Zion slowly looked up, only to have blood start falling onto his face…his blood. Sticking out on both sides of his dominant right hand was an arrow.

He started screaming when the pain finally registered in his mind.

Past his screams, Titta heard a voice she was all to glad to hear.

"JUMO, TITTA!" Tigre shouted out as he galloped towards her with Rurick and a few knight close behind. "JUMP!"

Overcome by Joy, Titta did exactly that, not caring that her damaged clothes flew up, revealing her body for the world to see as she began falling.

Too late Tigre noticed the pikeman waiting in ambush for him; his horse was tripped by the weapon that was held out before its legs. Rurick quickly shot the soldier from close range while Tigre used the saddle as a springboard to launch himself towards the falling Titta, not caring that she was wearing the next best thing to a birthday suit as he grabbed her whilst still in the air…some 10 alsins of the ground…

Fortunately Ellen arrived then and used her winds to first catch both of them and the horse, then gently lowering them to the ground. Naruto appeared behind them and placed a cloak over Titta's shoulders, which he had scavenged from a very recently deceased enemy soldier.

"You really are a reckless one, aren't you?" Ellen said as she rode forward. Titta gasped when she saw her wearing clothing/armor that left little to the imagination…and she began feeling slightly jealous of Ellen's…development in a certain area…

"I don't mean to hold this over you, But If I hadn't been here, you'd be seriously injured and I'd probably have to work my way out of the grudge Lim would hold against me." Ellen said. Titta was starting to become confused.

"The wind…" Tigre said, before realizing something.

"Yes. This is a sword that controls the wind, permitted only to war maidens of its choice." Ellen said, holding onto the sword by the blade and hilt. "Such is my Arifar."

The sword created a small breeze that ruffles Tigre and Titta's hair…and tried to do the same to Naruto's but his hair was as stubborn as he was dense.

"Oh…it looks like it likes you." Ellen said, addressing all three of them.

As the wind dissipated, Tigre realized they still had a fight to win.

"Zion!" he said, turning towards his home.

"Zion?" Ellen and Naruto asked.

"The oldest son of the House of Thenardier, and its next head." Tigre explained.

"Hmm, then he's their commander." Ellen said.

Rurick led a squad of knights on foot into the mansion to try and capture Zion.

"Lord Tigre!" Titta said, crying tears of joy that he was finally back.

"Titta…" Tigre said, only for her to start crying even harder. "Come to think of it, why were you…?"

"Just in case…Just in case anything were to happen, I wanted to at least carry this out with me." She said, indicating the bow she was still clutching to.

"You dummy! You should have left this here and taken refuge!" Tigre scolded her like an older brother would his little sister.

"I just couldn't do that." She retorted. "You left me in charge of taking care of your home!" she embraced him.

"Thank you." He said, returning the embrace.

"You know, Ellen, we can be glad Lim isn't here…" Naruto said.

"Agreed. She'd become quite jealous. So his type is the younger sisterly type, eh?" Ellen said.

Titta and Tigre seperated.

"It's not that…Titta is just a childhood friend and we are basically family…" Tigre said before his eyes caught a flash in the trees nearby. Using his reflexes honed through years of hunting, he grabbed the arrow, stopping it less than an inch from Titta's face, then sent it back the way it came, hitting the enemy archer in the face.

 _'Nice!'_ Naruto internally applauded, then noticed Tigre's injury moments before it started registering in Tigre's mind.

Titta, upon seeing the wound, didn't hesitate at all to tear a strip of cloth from her already torn dress and binding Tigre's hand.

"Can you fight?" Ellen asked.

"No problem. I can." Tigre said, flexing his hand experimentally and finding Titta's makeshift bandaging not causing any discomfort.

"Right. Follow as soon as you can then." Ellen said as she rode off to route the remaining soldiers.

Tigre was about to run off after her when he was stopped by Naruto.

"I'd do something about that bow if I were you…" Naruto told him.

"My bow…?" Tigre asked, confused until he saw the crack that was on the bow.

"How did you…" Titta began asking Naruto…only to find him long gone… "…disappear like that?"

"He always does that…" Tigre mumbled, looking around for another bow.

"Lord Tigre…" Titta, seeing his searching gaze, said. Turning around, he saw her holding out the black bow. "Now is the time for this." Titta said.

Luckily she was wearing the cloak Naruto gave her now, or else, due to where she was holding it, Tigre would have looked right at her breasts if he took his focus off the bow.

 _"Use this bow only when you really need it!"_ his father's voice echoed in his head.

"That is right now, isn't it?" Tigre asked.

Steeling his resolve, he grabbed the bow, and traded it for the broken one. Titta smiled at that. The bow was around twice the length of his broken one, yet to Tigre, it felt as though he had been using it his entire life.

Bertrand rode by nearby and saw Tigre holding out the bow.

"Lord Urs, the young lord has finally taken up that bow." He said.

Meanwhile with Naruto

After leaving Titta and Tigre, Naruto shunshi's across the rooftops of the town towards the place where Thenardier's men had breached the town's wall. He arrived just in time to see a man who he guessed was Zion, judging by the Unique armor the man was wearing, ride out, clutching his hand. On the other side he saw another battalion of enemy soldiers rushing towards the breech, intent on reinforcing those still inside the town.

"Not on my watch…" Naruto muttered, taking out a few paper tags and just as many kunai.

Nearby

Ellen and her knights were driving the Enemy back the way they came and were almost at the breech when a series of explosions shook the earth under their feet. Wondering what was going on, Ellen almost walked right into the path of a piece of shrapnel that looked like the tip of a knife blade. Fortunately, Arifar created a wall of wind just in time.

"Where did this come from?" Ellen asked, picking up the piece of knife and studying it. Another explosion gave her the answer, not in the form of a piece of knife, but in the form of a spear head being sent at tremendous velocity into a wooden beam nearby.

That was not including the bits and pieces of rock and stone…and blood…that also flew around.

Fortunately the explosion that sent the spear head flying was the last one as she heard the enemy call for the retreat.

When the dust had settled, she was shocked to see the area between the buildings and the wall completely messed up with craters all over the place.

"What in the world…" she began. Everyone else who saw the area thought or said the same thing. Unnoticed by all of them, the cause of this particular mess silently slipped away.

 _'I shouldn't have doubled up the explosive tags…if Ellen finds out, she is going to kill me…'_ Naruto thought as he started running for his life, hoping to find an isolated pocket of surviving enemies to defeat so he can have an alibi. His luck held out as he came across a group of soldiers having barricaded themselves inside a house…but left the second floor windows open…

Shortly afterwards

The Zhcted soldiers who walked by the house in question were surprised to see the 8 Brune Soldiers tied up and lying outside on the street, with Naruto snoozing under a nearby tree. When Ellen came by, Naruto woke up.

"Yo, Ellen. I thought you'd like to know that these guys were planning on barricading themselves inside that house and holding out until that Zion guy returned to claim this town…apparently…" Naruto shrugged at the last bit. "Don't worry, I went easy on them."

The tied up soldiers blanched at that.

"That was going easy?" they shouted in doubt and disbelief. "How in the world was that easy?"

"Well, for starters, you are still alive…" Naruto began. "And I am certain none of you have any broken bones or lasting bruises, so yeah. Easy."

If they hadn't already been lying on the floor, the soldiers would have face planted on the cobblestones at that.

"What do you intend to do with them?" Ellen asked.

"Hm…no idea." Naruto said. Ellen nearly face planted.

"You captured them and you don't know what to do with them?" she asked incredulously.

"Hey, I was only a foot soldier. I never led a team of…soldiers on any mission whatsoever." Naruto defended himself.

"Well, there are certainly far smarter people out there…" one of the prisoners muttered.

"There sure are…wait…WHAT?" Naruto shouted at the man, beginning an argument with him.

Ellen was beginning to find the spectacle amusing…after 3 minutes of near non-stop arguing…

"Well, in your mind, what is the best military strategy?" the man finally asked.

"Go in, kick some ass, get out again." Naruto said.

"I rest my case." The soldier muttered.

"What? It is an excellent plan…" Naruto began, but the laughter from everyone around, prisoner and soldier alike, stopped him from continuing. Naruto just scratched his head in confusion.

 **(1): The world is in what is comparable to the Medieval Era…the bras and panties as shown in the Madan anime haven't been invented yet, so them being there made no sense. I would have understood it if Titta had wrapped bandages around herself, but a lacy bra (At least I think is that type…)? In that Time Era? Really?**

 **Chapter 5**

After the battle had finished

In the aftermath of the battle, the dead were gathered up outside of the town and the armor and weapons were amassed in the town square. There, it was sorted into two neat piles: the armor and weapons that were beyond repair went onto one pile and those that well still in working condition went onto the other. Most of the swords were still in good condition, the only broken ones being gathered there where the mysterious explosions occurred.  
Unbroken Lances were few in number, but there were numerous pikes.  
Only a third of the helmets were still usable while the rest had been beaten, pierced or cut open, rendering them basically scrap metal. Interestingly enough, the chest plates were mostly in working condition, those parts that were damaged could be easily switched out by the same piece from another chest plate that was more damaged than not. The vambraces, gauntlets and Boots were all still usable, though some were close to becoming worn out.

Up at the Mansion

"300 enemy soldiers were defeated in battle whilst fighting in town." Lim reported. "Those soldiers who evaded our pursuit rejoined the main force, and right now they are probably reorganizing themselves."

"What about the enemy commander?" Ellen asked.

"Unfortunately he managed to get away." Lim said.

"Hmm. Well, that can't be helped." Ellen said.

"Was he a guy with dark hair wearing pink armor?" Naruto asked.

"Probably." Tigre said. "Pink armor is surprisingly common in Brune, and the majority of people here have dark hair."

"Well, this guy had an arrow sticking out of his hand…" Naruto said.

"Then it was definitely him…wait, how do you know that?" Tigre asked.

"I saw him leaving the battle through the breach in the wall…oops." Too late Naruto caught himself.

"SO THAT WAS YOU?!" Ellen shouted, trying to draw Arifar. Fortunately for Naruto, the sword had a mind of its own. Unfortunately, everyone there now knew that he was somehow involved in the explosions. "Do you have any idea how close a piece of shrapnel came to cutting through head?"

Naruto gulped.

"I am sure that none of the explosions came near…" Naruto realized he had just finished his own grave. "Ah, fuck it." He sighed. "What did the shrapnel look like?" he asked. A loud thunk later and he was looking down at the tip of a kunai.

"Where did this thing come from?" Ellen demanded. "It is like nothing I have ever seen before…"

"This is the tip of a…throwing knife that I use during my…previous…occupation." Naruto said. Ellen's eyes widened, understanding the hidden message. _'Too many eyes and ears here.'_

"And what exactly did you use to make those explosions?" Lim asked.

"Sorry, I can't tell you. Secrets of the Job and all." Naruto told her.

"So you are not a complete idiot…" Lim said.

"Yes…wait…" Ellen cut Naruto's shout off before the conversation could turn into another long and loud, and quite possibly humorous, argument.

"Now then, back to the matter at hand…If you trust that the enemy numbered 3,000, then Thenardier's forces are at 2,700." To the side Naruto was struggling with the simple math of 3,000 minus 300. For some reason he always ended up with 0. Reason: he took the 300 out of the 3000, leaving him with only a single 0. (3 0 0 0)

"We will leave 100 troops here, t protect the town." Lim said. "Of our 1,000, 900 are able to fight."

Naruto internally sighed in relief as that was in an area where he could do maths again. His numbers currently ended at 1,000…it also helped that Lim basically did the maths for him…

"At any rate, there are still three times as many of them as there are of us." Ellen sighed.

"How far do you think the enemy will flee?" she asked Tigre, who looked at the map for a moment.

"Probably here. In the Molsheim Plains. It is mostly open flat country, so they can maximize the strength of their knights there." He said.

"So we know where they are…then let's go and kick their asses." Naruto said.

"I agree with the idiot there…" Ellen had a few seconds' time to make sure Naruto didn't shout out again due to Lim's comment. "…We'll give them everything…"

Tigre finished Lim's sentence, "…that's coming to them."

Ellen looked from one to the other, before giggling. "You know, its kindof cute, the way the two of you work in sync with each other sometimes."

Lim turned into a stuttering mess and Tigre just blushed.

Naruto had a halo of question marks above his head.

 **Chapter 6**

Molsheim plains

The battered and weary survivors slowly trudged across the plains towards the main force, some being carried by their allies, others barely able to hold onto their swords, but all of their spirits broken, not just by their defeat, but also by the fact that their leader left them behind without support.

At the command tent

"Did you say Zhcted?" Zion shouted out at the three men kneeling before him. "Impossible! What would they be doing there?!" he quickly downed a cup of wine, wincing when a drop fell onto his bandaged hand, where the bleeding hadn't stopped. "Vorn! That's it. It's him. This is all his fault!" the others in the tent were sweat dropping at his behaviour, as though he was going mad. "Damn it! The man can only use a bow! A fucking Bow!" Zion returned his attention to the three men. "Send out more scouts. Tell them not to return until they know the number of enemies there are."

"Yes sir!"

"I'm certain he's the one who led Zhcted into our country, too." Zion said, clutching his injured hand. "That traitor! That craven rat!"  
He cried out when he pressed down on the wound. "Just you watch! I'll show you!"

Meanwhile, in Alsace

"We'll double-up anything too fine!" Titta called out from her position in the town square, calling for donations of ropes. "It's for the war effort! Please contribute!" Next to her was a knee high pile of rope already and it was not the first pile…just the pile that currently wasn't being weaved by the groups of older men and women who were splicing and weaving the ropes together to form a very long 3 inch thick rope.

"Good luck." The latest contributor and her son told Titta.

"Many thanks." Titta responded.

"This is for Lord Tigre." One of the weavers said.

"True true. We need him to stick it to those Thenardier bastards." Another said.

"This is about all we can do for him." A third said.

"Thank you so very much!" Titta said.

Standing on the edge of the town square were Lim and Rurick, watching in interest as the townsfolk helped.

Lim couldn't help but form a small smile on her face.

 _Flashback_

 _"Tigre and I will lead 400 men. Lim, you've got the rest." Ellen said. "Wait for your opening, then let them have it. Do you have any suggestions?"_

 _Lim thought for a moment. "I'd like some rope." She said. "We can double-up anything too fine, but as much as possible."_

 _"Rope, huh?" Tigre muttered._

 _"Please let me take care of that!" Titta said, walking into the room carrying a tray with Tea, cake and cups._

 _"Titta…" Bertrand said._

 _Setting the tray down on the table, Titta said, "I'll go ask the townspeople. Please let me handle the rope."_

 _"Thanks, Titta." Tigre said. Suddenly the air began tensing up slightly. Tigre, Bertrand, Ellen, Lim and Rurick looked at each other in confusion, but looking at the source of the tension: Titta…who was feeling jealous again…this time because of the second lady with a larger chest than her._

 _Titta turned to Ellen. "U-um…Are you and Lord Tigre…" Titta couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence, then struggled to suppress her embarrassment. "Are you and Lord Tigre in some kind of relationship?"_

 _Ellen smirked, finding a new teasing source. "Well, he does belong to me, you see." She said._

 _"Huh?!" Titta gasped._

 _"Well, she's right." Tigre said. "For the time being, I am her prisoner."_

 _"And what about the young man who gave me a cloak?" Titta asked. "I never really got his name."_

 _"Oh, you mean Naruto?" Tigre said._

 _"He is a free spirit, doing what he likes to do mostely. He is not a prisoner, more like a mercenary who is picky about whom he serves." Ellen said. She didn't add that he was also a Shinobi…knowing Lim, she probably try to kill the poor man._

 _"Anyway, back to matter…wait…where IS Naruto anyway?" Lim asked._

 _"Probably following the enemy forces and setting up some traps in their camp…" Ellen muttered. "Sometimes I feel jealous of his ability to move around without being spotted."_

 _"You make him sound like he is an assassin." Bertrand said. The room seemed to grow cold._

 _"From what he told me, he came from a world where soldiers were trained from birth to move rapidly and silently, as well as to infiltrate and sabotage. I don't know about assassinations, but Naruto swore on his honor as a swordsman that he never killed in cold blood before." Ellen said, calming everyone down._

 _"Still, the first time Naruto told me about his training I also thought he was a Shinobi, but he isn't like the shinobi we know." Ellen said, before turning to Tigre, leaning forward slightly. Titta began feeling veeeery self conscious and something began bubbling up inside her._

 _"I won't be outdone!" she suddenly shouted, making the three males and the two females look at her. In embarrassment Titta ran out of the room, seemingly illuminating the corridor with her atomic blush._

 _"'I won't be outdone', eh?" Ellen said. "Lim…you are going to have competition."_

 _"What do you mean with that?" Lim asked, before seeing Ellen's subtle gestures towards Tigre. Lim's cheeks lit up red as she got the meaning._

 _"By the way, what will you do with the spare horses we brought?" Tigre asked._

 _"Spare horses?" Ellen asked._

 _"We were planning to leave them in the town of Celesta." Lim said. "Do you have some issue with that?"_

 _"I have an idea." Tigre said._

 _Flashback end_

"He does indeed have some interesting ideas." Lim muttered.

"Daydreaming about your boyfriend?" Rurick teased.

For all the protests and denials that Lim sent his way, her blush told a completely different story…

That evening

Ellen and Tigre were sitting on their horses before the 400 knights in their division.

"Young Lord!" Bertrand called out, riding over to him.

"Oh, you're here!" Tigre said elated.

"Oi, oi…" Ellen deadpanned, seeing him.

"I won't be able to wield a sword like this, huh?" Bertrand joked. Indeed, he was carrying 8 extra quivers for Tigre.

"Don't worry." Tigre said. "As long as you are behind me and Ellen, no sword or spear will reach you." He turned to Ellen. "Isn't that right?"

"Yeah." Ellen agreed.

"By the way, where is Naruto?" Bertrand asked.

"Right beside you, old man." Naruto said. Were Bertrand not weighed down by the quivers, he would have jumped out of the saddle. "Yo." Naruto greeted.

"Where have you been?" Ellen asked.

"Messing with the enemy forces." Naruto said with his big smile.

"How so?" Tigre asked.

"What you don't know won't hurt you." Naruto said.

Eagle eye POV, Molsheim plain

Zion divided his remaining 2,700 men into three forces.

The first group consisted of 700 infantry, wielding spears, bows and sword.

The second group consisted of the lesser trained Knights and horsemen, numbering around 1,000. They were armed with lances and wore hardened steel armor.

The main force, consisting of the remaining 1,000 formed the third group. They consisted of the Veteran knights, wielding the best weapons and armor.

It was a standard Brunish battle formation used for fighting on grassy plains.

This time, in addition to the troops, were two dragons

Against the sure formations of the Thenardier forces, the Zhected army set 400 of their 900 cavalrymen to face them head-on. Leading them are Ellen, Tigre and Naruto.

The two armier close the distance and their clash is imminent.

POV change to normal

With Tigre and Ellen

"Are you scared?" Ellen asked.

"I am." Tigre answered.

"Not really…" Naruto said. He felt more intimidated by a green Genin back home.

"That is because you are odd." Tigre teased him. "However, I'm not inclined to lose today."

"What a coincidence. Neither am I." Ellen said. Naruto nodded in agreement.

Gripping Arifar, Ellen called for the charge and her army began galloping towards the enemies front lines…well…all but one of them…Naruto was easily managing to keep up with the galloping horses.

The enemy spearmen leveled their spears and braced for the incoming charge while the archers let loose a hail of arrows.

Ellen just summoned a razor wind to shred the arrows, making them fall harmlessly to the ground. Tigre meanwhile was shooting his arrows in groups of three, taking out the enemy spearmen. Naruto increased his speed and began cutting a path through the infantry, throwing their ranks into chaos.

And into this chaos rode the Zhcted Army, inflicting heavy casualties and routing the enemy foot soldiers. By the time they passed Naruto, the enemies first division had completely collapsed and the enemy was in a complete rout. Nobody paid attention to the literal barricade of corpses Naruto had made just by cutting down enemy foot soldiers.

Once past the foot soldiers, the Zhcted Army's charge was met with the charge from Thenardier's second division.

With shouts of revenge for the Battle of Dianant from the Brune knights, the two masses of charging cavalry crashed into each other. It soon became apparent that the lances of the Brune knights initially proved to be an advantage as they were far longer than those of the Zhcted knights, but once the front lines passed each other with casualties on both sides, the lances became a liability due to them being cumbersome.

Against the well trained Zhcted knights, Thenardier's second division's casualties began growing rapidly…until they suddenly split apart and began flanking the Zhcted force. Through the middle stomped the Earth dragon, growling.

"A dragon!" several of the Zhcted knights shouted.

"A land dragon…a brass colored one at that…" Ellen gasped. "Imaging, taming a dragon!"

Some of the Zhcted knight tried getting lucky strikes and blindly rode against the dragon, only to be crushed by its huge feet.

Tigre then tried shooting an arrow at its eye, only for the arrow to bounce of harmlessly after impacting the eye.

"Huh? What is this thing?" The entire battlefield became quiet at the sudden voice. Ellen's eyes widened seeing Naruto standing right next to the dragons leg. "Is it an oversized lizard? A gecko maybe?"

Roaring, the dragon tried squashing Naruto, only for him to burrow underground and emerge next to the other leg. When the dragon tried trampling him again, Naruto disappeared beneath the ground again and reappeared somewhere else.

Thus began a game of Whack-a-Mole…ah…Ninja.

"What the hell? He's toying with the dragon!" Ellen heard some of her knights mutter.

With Zion

Zion and the people in the main division couldn't see Naruto, so they didn't know what was going on.

"Die! Die now, Vorn!" Zion laughed. "Be tramples by the dragon, and torn apart by its claws!" he laughed again. "It's what you deserve, you traitor!"

"The enemy is ambushing the second column's flank!" someone reported.

"Hmm? Ha! More cheap tricks, just like at Dinant?" Zion asked. "Send 400 men from the flying column!" he commanded.

With Ellen and Naruto

While Lim's force and the rest of Ellen's force kept the enemy soldiers occupied, Ellen went to face off against the earth dragon…who looked down as if wondering who this new mini runt was. It had long since given up on trying to crush Naruto and was now focused on Ellen, still deciding if she was worth a snack of should just be crushed like the others.

"I wasn't expecting a dragon." Ellen said. "So as a reward, I'll show you a somewhat fancy move. Naruto, you may want to get out of there."

Naruto was already way ahead of her and had retreated a safe distance from her…which was about twice the distance between her and the small force that wasn't engaged with the enemy in combat. He had begun moving when he heard the words 'fancy' and 'move' come from her mouth, because in his experience, whenever a female decided to use a fancy move, it usually ended in a massive amount of destruction and/or collateral damage. **(1)**

The wind began picking up and began swirling around Arifar like a mini tornado. Ellen raised it above her head and the tornado moved to the tip and turned into an orb.

 _'The Rasengan?'_ Naruto thought in shock. _'No, that is more like the Rasenshuriken…but where are the blades on the side?'_

Suddenly the orb accelerated its rotation and a shrieking noise came from it.

 _'Well, it's definitely not a Rasenshuriken or a Rasengan…the sound is completely different…'_ Naruto thought.

" _Mow down, air and all!_ " Ellen said, her pupils starting to glow bright red. " _Ley Admos!_ " with a downward slash from the sword, Ellen sent the sphere of wind shooting right at the approaching earth dragon, lifting it off the floor and cutting it right down the middle. Not even the Armor plating of the dragon managed to block the razor wind.

And true to Naruto's prediction, the ground in the path of the attack was completely devastated.

"Now, to counterattack." Ellen said as though she hadn't just slain a giant monster.

"What was that just now?" Tigre asked. "I've never seen that before!"

"Naturally. That's the first time I've shown it off." Ellen said. "It has too much force, so I don't use it on people."

With Lim

"Ley Admos…" Lim muttered.

"The enemy is sending forces from its flying column." Rurick reported.

"They're coming?" Lim asked. "We're retreating, just as we planned."

Lim's force beat a hasty retreat from the approaching force that Zion sent out.

"The enemy is retreating!" one of the knights in the new force shouted.

"They're fools! Lets distinguish ourselves!" another shouted.

Lim suddenly whistled and just as the last Zhcted knight passed a certain point, a thick rope rose out of the floor, unseen by the Brune knights. As a result, many of them fell of their horses as the rope caught the horses' legs, making them trip.

Lim immediately ordered the counterattack and the Brunish knight found the tables turned on them.

"You only look upward, at the enemy, and that is why you stumble." Lim directed her words at the brunish soldiers, knowing that none of them could hear her. "Without the anger and resentment towards Thenardier, I doubt we would have collected this much." Sir Tigre really is trusted by his people, isn't her?" she looked up at the sky. "And there's one more thing…"

Near the bisected corpse of the earth dragon

The battle continued on despite the death of the dragon. Tigre was still calmly shooting three arrows at a time to great effect and Ellen was covering his back.

"It's just about time, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah." He replied. "Time for an ambush."

Naruto meanwhile was darting around the reeling mass of bodies, striking at exposed parts of those who challenged him, whilst dodging the strikes the next challenger threw at him…and internally he was grumbling that he Ellen asked him not to use his true power least it exposed his status as a Shinobi be revealed. Ellen doesn't know about chakra or ninjutsu yet, and assumed that he had hidden needles covered with poison as well as other instruments of assassination at his disposal. She also forbade him from using that cloning technique of his… _Shadow clone jutsu_ he calls it, as it would draw a lot of attention to him and he'd be forced to expose his true power…and probably would be sentenced to death for being a 'shinobi'…

With Zion

"Sir, an enemy force is approaching from the rear." One of the scouts reported and hesitantly added, "They number roughly…2,000!"

"2,000?!" Zion said, shocked. "My main force is no more than 600 right now! That's over three times as many! From behind us?!"

"Lord Zion, let's send out the flying dragon." One of the commanders suggested.

"Uh? The flying dragon…?" he stood up and turned on the commander who had spoken. "You idiot! The enemy defeated the land dragon! Split the dragon clean in helf! What if they do the same to this one, too?! It's _me_ he will be angry with, not _you_!" he shouted, meaning his father.

The Wyvern seemed to share Zion's views.

"Thinl, Zion Thenardier! You are the general!" Zion said, biting his thumb. "What I have to do right now is…That's it! My life!" he turned to his commanders. "Bring the second column back! We're retreating for now!" he said.

"Lord Zion, we can still get through this." The same commander as before said. "If the knights can hold their ground until they destroy the forward enemy, we will…"

"SHUT UP!" Zion shouted, punching him in the face, then grimacing in pain as the wound on his hand began aching due to the impact.

"Lord Zion…"

"Get the knights to stand down immediately! Do it now!" Zion said.

Nobody could have realized that the enemy in their rear actually numbered less than a hundred. However, the number of spare horses the Zhcted army had brought along numbered 2,000.

Tigre's plan was to use the advantage of the lay of the land as well as the setting sun to create the illusion of a huge army.

Meanwhile the commanders of the Thenardier's forces that were engaged in the fight were appalled by the sudden order to retreat, but eventually relented when they heard the news of the approaching army to their rear.

The result was a slaughter as the Zhcted knights kept on driving into their retreating rear. Eventually the second column went into complete route and the Zhcted army made straight for the third and final column.

"The second knight column has been broken through!" one scout reported.

"The main force isn't holding either; they're giving ground!" another said.

"This is wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen." Zion said. "There's no way that he…that the likes of a Vorn could defeat me!"

The sound of approaching horses made him look up and the sight of his miserable state made several veins bulge on his face in anger.

"Vorn!" he growled.

"After all this, don't think you can run away, Zion Thenardier!" Tigre called out.

"Run away? Ridiculous!" Zion shouted back. "You betray our country and invite Zhcted forced in?! You really are descended from huntsmen, you scoundrel!"

"Why don't you look to yourself for blame?" Tigre asked.

"What?"

"You make your innocent population suffer, burn their houses, and steal their property. That is the very behavior of a thief!"

"Huh? My population?" Zion asked. "What about my population?! They're like plant life, which grows back when you cut it down! What do you care about them?"

This pissed Naruto of to no end.

"Can I kill him?" he asked.

"No…he is mine." Tigre told him, before turning to Zion again. "I don't understand our thinking. I only know that I don't intend to forgive you for raiding my land, and for inflicting torment on my people!"

"You've got some nerve!" Zion said, then had an idea. He started laughing. "I challenge you to a duel, Vorn! You came after me! Don't you run away now!"

"Has he lost his mind?" Ellen asked.

 _'He is still more sane than some of the idiots I had to fight before…'_ Naruto thought.

Tigre began riding forward.

"Oi…you don't mean…" Lim called out, "…you're planning to fight him?"

"Well, it is his fight…" Ellen said.

"I feel sorry for him…" Naruto said.

"Don't worry. Tigre will pull it through." Ellen said.

"Who said I was talking about Tigre?" Naruto asked.

"Where is you weapon? Go borrow a sword or a spear from the Zhcted!" Zion called out. In his left arm was a long lance and he had a shield covering his injured right arm.

"This is my weapon." Tigre said, holding out the black bow.

"Don't fuck with me!" Zion shouted. "How can you duel with a bow?! You think a surprise-attack weapon like that can…"

"Shall we put it to the test?" Tigre interrupted him, taking aim. The arrow hit Zion's shield dead centre.

"Ha! You see? That's a bow for you!" Zion smirked. Tigre shot another arrow, hitting the shield at the same location. "Try it all you like, it will never work!" Zion shouted. A third arrow struck the shield. By now Zion's patience has run dry. "Enough! It's impossible to duel with you, when all you can use is your bow! Now I'm going to take your head from you, and put an end to all this!" Zion spurred his horse into a gallop.

Tigre calmly took aim with a fourth arrow.

"Die, Vorn! Without any honor!" Zion shouted as he approached.

Tigre released the arrow, which flew too fast for Zion to see. Suddenly Zion's face went from one covered with Glee to one of extreme pain. His lance veered off course, cutting Tigre across the cheek.

Several knights amongst the Zhcted army were astonished by what had happened.

Zion continued moving past Tigre for a few seconds before stopping and crying out in pain. Zion moved his arm to reveal the fourth arrow had gone not only through the shield, but Zion's forearm as well.

"That…That's impossible!" he screamed. Turning the shield as far as he could, he saw that all four arrows had landed in exactly the same location on his shield.

"Young Lord…" Bertrand said.

"To be able to shoot the same spot on a moving opponent's shield…" Ellen began. "He really is an uncanny man."

 _'Indeed…his aim rivals or even surpasses that of Tenten…'_ Naruto thought

In his old Dimension

A girl with brown hair buns sneezed loudly. Sending her kunai flying way of course, only for it to land right on Kakashi's Icha Icha Tactics book, tearing through it.

The nurses later had to restart his heart, which had apparently shut down after Kakashi got a major fright.

Back in the new world

Zion looked up and saw Tigre aiming yet another arrow at him, but before he could shoot, the surviving knights of the second column came charging in.

"Help Lord Zion!" the lead knight shouted. Shouts of agreement arose from the others.

Seeing the new threat, Ellen called for the charge of her own knights. Thus the last engagement began.

She meanwhile rode up beside Tigre. "I wasn't sure how that would turn out." She said.

"It's just as you see." Tigre answered.

"He wouldn't have died anyway." Naruto told her, appearing beside her. "Had Tigre missed, I would have appeared next to Zion and…"

"And what?" Ellen asked.

"Uhm…I haven't thought about what I'd do then…" Ellen and Tigre thought they'd fall of their horses due to the shock from Naruto's completely honest statement.

They recovered just in time to brace themselves as a very strong gust of wind came. Looking around, they saw…more like heard…Zion taking off with the flying dragon.

"You can be crushed by my father, together with your precious Alsace!" Zion shouted. "I am not about to die out here!"

"My wind blades cannot reach him at that height." Ellen said.

 _'Is he going to get away like this?'_ Tigre thought. _'Are we going to let him go?'_

 _"Shoot the dragon."_ A voice suddenly said in his head. Tigre looked around, then saw that his bow was releasing some kind of Aura.

 _"I'l' say it again. Shoot the dragon."_ The voice said again.

"Was that…you…?" Tigre asked, only for images of Titta with her destroyed clothes to appear in his mind.

Tigre pushed aside his curiosity and drew the bow once again. When he reached full draw, he saw dark blue/black energy building up at the tip of the arrow, with white energy joining it.

"Are you lending him your power?" Ellen asked Arifar.

Naruto, seeing the energy, immediately got a bad feeling about it. Subtly activating his sage mode, he was shocked to find that the energy consisted of very dark energy.

 _'I hope that energy is not what I think it is…'_ he thought.

When Tigre shot the arrow, it turned into a beam of Black and Blue energy that sped at extreme speeds towards the flying dragon.

"IM…IMPOSSIBLE!" Zion shouted as he saw the bolt of energy approaching.

The impact tore through both him and the dragon, causing the corpses to fall down to earth and into a nearby lake. Seeing the dragon and their lord slain, the last flames of resistance left the Thenardier soldiers; they began surrendering without resistance.

The Battle for Alsace had finally ended.

Later that night

Naruto was busy preparing for bed when he heard the door to his sleeping quarters quietly open and close. After the battle was over, the army had returned to Alsace, where Naruto was offered one of the guest quarters in the mansion.

Walking out of the bathroom without a shirt, he saw Ellen sneaking over to his bed.

"If you are looking for me, you could have just knocked on the door." He said, scaring her. He saw that she was wearing a loose nightgown that still revealed a lot of her cleavage.

"I thought you'd be lonely in this unfamiliar place, and thought you'd already be sleeping…I didn't want to wake you." She said, trying to come up with a reasonable reason for her intrusion.

"Oh, that's alright. Besides, growing up without anyone to really call family makes it very hard to become lonely in the first place." Naruto told her. She sighed in relief, for once thankful that he was a bit of an idiot. "And besides, you would have heard me if I were asleep." Her head jerked up at that.

 _'Don't tell me…'_ she began thinking.

"People say I tend to shout in my sleep unless I sleep outside." Naruto said. "And sometimes even then."

 _'Oh God, that is even worse…'_ Ellen began sweating slightly.

"And according to one of my teachers, I kinda start attacking those nearby whenever I sleepwalk."

 _'What have I led myself into?'_ Ellen was sweating even harder.

"But that apparently only happens very rarely." Naruto shrugged.

Ellen sighed in relief. _'I had better not do anything stupid tonight.'_ She thought.

"Uhm, do you mind if we sleep together?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure. You can have the bed." Naruto said.

Ellen's joy made her not think straight. "My…thank youeeeEEEH?" she almost shouted. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"On the floor." Naruto said bluntly. He had gotten a sleeping role out of somewhere and was setting it up on the side of the room, near the wall.

The last shards of Ellen's plan shattered in her mind…she had planned on spending the night with Naruto and then give him a 'good morning kiss' the next day…

And to her absolute horror…that night was one of the nights where Naruto sleep-walked…

 **(1): i.e. Sakura and Tsunade and every housewife when wielding a frying pan or rolling pin…**

 **And done with this Upload.**

 **Now, I know that there was very little in the way of romance-advancement this time, but don't forget, they technically didn't have time for something like that. As for the traps that Naruto placed in the enemy camp, well, I had planned on having Naruto place a few explosive tags under the saddle of the flying dragon, but then realized that Naruto didn't plan that far ahead to come up with a backup plan like that.**

 **So to ease everyone's curiosity, I am putting the list of things he did in the Omake.**

 **So…**

 **Omake**

The shit Naruto did whilst in the enemy camp.

-He sneaked in and got his hands on some gear to blend in. He used a _Henge_ to make his whiskers disappear…and to make himself appear like someone else when causing some trouble…

-He went around, placing a weak itching powder in some of the soldiers' shoes and a weak laxative in the Wine Jars and Ale/Beer **(depending on where you come from)** barrels. He never really understood the point of these drinks…Sake was so much better…

-He dissolved a capsule of powdered red paint in a mug and secretly poured the contents in one of the water barrels.

-In the armories he tampered with most of the arrows' fletching, ensuring they wouldn't fly straight…not that he needed to…apparently Tigre was the only Brune Human who could shoot straight…

-Using bits of cloth, he blocked the signal trumpets…they always annoyed him anyway…

-He brought a live (but wrapped up) Bee Hive into the food storage…the poor guy who opened up the wrappings lived to tell the tale, but forever stayed away from honey and bees…those nearby…well…that is a different story better left unsaid…uhm…unwritten…

-And several other things…

-Then he made a bit of money by gambling, using his ridiculous gambling luck to earn himself a small fortune: 2 gold coins, 78 silver coins and 184 Bronze coins. The poor soldiers had just lost about half their earnings to him. Next Naruto started gambling with a drunk commander, who thought he could beat Naruto in Gambling…well…Naruto pretty much doubled his winnings. Fortunately the drunkard was a good loser and congratulated Naruto on the win. Naruto was beginning to like the man…he was pretty much the only drunk person who didn't try to beat the shit out of him when he lost to Naruto in gambling…

-So, Naruto then simply walked out of the camp, saying he'd go on a patrol along the perimeter. In his 'Gama-chan' were 4 gold coins, 151 Silver coins and 355 Bronze coins. Before leaving for good, he activated his last and final prank:

Since it was nighttime, Naruto…well…he set of the alarm…on the OTHER side of camp. And when the soldiers arrived, they were suddenly covered in a flour cloud…which left them looking like ghosts…Naruto chuckled imagining the chaos the new arrivals would cause seeing the small army of 'ghosts'…

 **It will take a while for the next upload as I am first going to finish the second upload of my other story, 'A Fox is Semper Fidelis', before starting on the third part.**

 **Author story**

 **Tigre:** Why did it take so long to write this upload?

 **Me:** I was planning on uploading it together with the cover pic, but I don't seem to be able to get in contact with the person creating it.

 **Naruto:** Why don't you make your own?

 **Me:** I can't make one to save my life.

 **Valentina:** So you are only a person of words?

 **Me + Tigre:** WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?

 **Naruto:** Oh great…it's the psycho bitch…

 **Valentina:** Why thank you, Blondie.

 **Ellen:** Don't forget to Review. _Then throws herself on Naruto…who goes to find Ramen…_


	3. Chapter 7 - Chapter 9

**Hi again.**

 **Sorry for the long wait. I have been writing exams and was unable to write much.**

 **Listen I noticed I forgot to give Chapters 4 to 6 proper titles, so I am adding them here quickly:**

 **Chapter 4, Hit and…RUN!**

 **Chapter 5, Angry Numbers**

 **Chapter 6, The Archer's Power**

 **Also, I noticed that Chapter 5 was extremely short…I will take responsibility for that. Please, forgive me.**

 **Answers/Comments to Reviews:**

 **TheCasualReader:** Glad you liked it and had a laugh at the same time.

 **Perseus12:** Thanks for the like.

 **Wolf191000:** Good to know you enjoy the story. I will do my best to keep the rest of the story up to this standard, if not exceed it if possible.

 **Guest:** Firstly, thanks for the like and support.  
Secondly: Why don't you get a Fanfic Profile? It is free and any Idiot can get one…other than Naruto…he probably would get lost trying to find the 'register' page…  
And I doubt there are any Idiots of Naruto's level in the real world…

 **READER1010:** Thanks for the Review and don't worry, the 'failures' will continue.

 **Now, on to the stuff all you want to see…the continuation of the story.**

 **Slight warning before that…I will start using M-rated language from here on out, mainly in conversations and thoughts.**

 **Chapter 7, Mornings and Meetings**

Vorn estate, kitchen

Titta was humming to herself as she happily worked on baking bread-rolls for herself, Tigre, Bertrand, Naruto, Lim and Ellen. She currently had 3 rolls in the oven and behind her were several others that she had finished baking already.

It had been a few days since the Battle on the Molsheim Plains and life in Alsace has pretty much returned to normal…apart from an unknown person going around at night and causing mischief, i.e. pranks. But for some reason, the pranks made everyone, even those getting caught in them, laugh.

Naruto had proven to be very helpful as well as an idiot on numerous occasions, mostly by helping to rebuild damaged/destroyed buildings. He also proved to be great fun for the kids, who literally swarmed all over Naruto whenever he played with them…much to the humor of those who were watching.

Ellen once also tried joining in on these playing sessions, but when one of the young girls grabbed her shirt and tried using it to climb up Ellen (Using clothes to climb seems to work on Naruto)…well…Ellen went red, Naruto passed out with a slight nose-bleed, the parent of the children…well the fathers followed Naruto's example with varying degrees of nose-bleeds and the women were going green with envy due to Ellen's breasts being larger than theirs…before making sure the males sleep on the couches for a few days…

Suddenly Ellen got tripped and the girl from before fell face first into Ellen's cleavage.

In a scene that can be described as perverted, but was blatantly obvious to all (still conscious) spectators that it wasn't, the girl made herself comfortable using Ellen's breasts as pillows.

"So soft and comfortable…" the girl muttered before falling asleep…and snoring cutely…

None of this was helping Ellen's blush…in fact, it only worsened it.

Something that has become quite the gossip subject amongst the men and women was the relationship between Tigre and Lim, as well as that of Naruto and Ellen.

It was common knowledge by now that Tigre and Lim had feeling for each other but were either too dense to recognize the feelings for what they were or were too afraid to act on them.

Naruto and Ellen's relationship was the subject of jokes rather than gossip. Although they had known him for a very short time, one of the first things that every man and woman in Alsace discovered about him was that he was in a category of his own, and unofficially created a new degree, named after him.

This adds to the existing three degrees as follows:

-Slightly dense: The person will notice that his/her significant other has feelings for him/her after a short while.

-Moderately dense: The person will notice that his/her significant other has feelings about him/her after he/she goes to great lengths to make him/her realize it.

-Very dense: The person will only notice that his/her significant other have feelings for him/her if he/she confessed…and then it took a few hours for the confession to sink in…

And the new degree:

-Naruto level denseness: The person will only notice that his significant other literally slaps him in the face with a 'I love you' sign…continuously…for at least a month…whilst continuously telling him that she loves him…and even then he may not notice it…and to top it all off, he misinterprets or misunderstands every romantic advances the opposing party makes…hopefully in a positive way…keyword is hopefully…The misinterpretation may ruin one's day…

Of course the only known case of the last level was the namesake, so for now it only applies to males…at least until a female is found that has reached THAT level of denseness…

Another laughing subject was what happened during the night after the battle…or rather how Naruto and Ellen arrived in town. Naruto was an energetic and happy-go-lucky as always while Ellen was showing signs of sleep deprivation…scratch that…the bags under her eyes made it clear that she barely slept during the night and was so tired she could collapse at any moment…

At first this led to rumors about the two of them having joined at the hip, but that rumor was quickly stopped when one looked at the difference in their respective moods. The fact that Ellen also showed signs of depression helped clearing the rumors…

Other than these facts, it was clear to everyone that Naruto wasn't all that he seemed to be…he had this unexplainable air of mystery about him. Hesitantly the citizens accepted his explanation of him being a special mercenary…the hesitation coming in when they first saw him practically inhaling 20 bowls of Ramen…or how he can move around at very high speeds…

His explanation for the second was that he had undergone intense training in the past…or rather take his words: "If you had undergone the same training as me you would be able to do the same."

Well…a normal person wouldn't remain sane after training for 2 1/2 years with the biggest pervert in existence…but Naruto didn't think about that.

Titta smiled at the memories as she prepared a Breakfast Platter for Tigre and brought it to his room, humming as she went.

Opening the door, she said, "Lord Tigre, Break…" she stopped seeing what was going on in Tigre's room.

Kneeling above Tigre was Lim, holding her sword in his mouth…

"L…" Titta began.

All over Alsace

"LORD TIGRE!" came the shout from the manor. The people from Zhcted wondered what had happened while the locals either let out a sigh or laughed.

When asked for clarification, the locals simply said that Titta had just tried waking Tigre up…probably…

Back in the mansion

Lim turned around, having just noticed Titta at the doorway.

Tigre meanwhile was trying not to move his head in case the sword were cut him…at least he was awake now…

Later, at the table

"You use your sword to wake him up?! Are you completely out of your mind?" Titta shouted at Lim. "What if he had gotten hurt?"

"But…it was the only way I know of to wake him up…" Lim protested.

"Hey, it's alright, isn't it?" Tigre tried calming Titta down. "I can still eat, no problem…"

'Tried' being the operative word.

"NO, it's not all right!" Titta scolded him.

"A…anyway, what's going on? You are up and at them so early this morning." Tigre said, trying to change the subject.

"Y…yeah…" Lim stuttered, while Titta had a 'oh Crap, he found out' expression. "Ellen had received an immediate summons from the Zhcted King and left shortly after you fell asleep yesterday." Lim told him.

"You…don't sound happy about this…" Tigre told her. Titta turned to Lim in agreement.

"I am worried about Eleonora-sama." Lim said.

"What…is she in trouble?" Tigre asked.

"No. But she needs Naruto as much as he needs her…and his reckless and un-thought-through actions made him walk a very thin line the last time he met the king…if he crosses that line this time, Ellen will be Duty and Honor bound to kill him." Lim began feeling tears coming to her eyes. "That may break Ellen's heart more than anything thus far in her life."

Meanwhile, in the Zhcted Capital, Silesia

The assembly hall was once more filled with numerous people, all of them looking once again at the lone figure clad in white kneeling before the king. Of course, no-one sensed Naruto hiding in the shadows…again…

"Lift up your face." The king said. Ellen did so. "Mistress of the Shining Demon Slayer, Eleonora Viltaria…I have heard that you took an army into Brune territory, without first gaining my permission. Is this true?"

"It is as you say, Your Majesty." Ellen replied fearlessly.

"Was there a reason why you did this? Tell me." The old king commanded. "Based on your response, I will determine a fitting punishment for your reckless conduct."

Naruto meanwhile had made a few clones to keep an eye on a few of the other Vanadis: the one he instinctively didn't trust last time. As always she had a 'about-to-cause-shit' grin on her face.

The next was a heterochromatic female, also with large breasts, purple dress and pink hair. Like with the 'Potato' (Who was also there BTW), Naruto got the sense that she had some internal turmoil going on, though unlike the blue midget, this one seemed to be more in control of her emotions. Sofya, the blonde Bimbo, didn't need to be watched as Naruto knew she was trustworthy.

He himself was watching over the conversation between Ellen and the King.

Back with the conversation

"I was hired to do so." Ellen said, making most of the spectators begin murmuring amongst themselves.

"What? Hired?" the king asked in disbelief. "By whom?"

"By Count Tigrevurmud Vorn, nobleman of Brune and Lord of Alsace." Ellen answered.

"Hmpf. So, what was this Count Vorn's objective? His ambition?" the king asked.

"By his own word, the peace of Alsace." Ellen answered.

The king's eyes widened whilst the Irises became smaller.

With Naruto

 _'Oh…don't tell me…'_ Naruto began thinking.

"What whitewashing!" he heard the king shout.

 _'Yep…definitely someone who cannot see beyond his own good…'_ Naruto thought to himself.

And back again

"Do you mean to draw our land into a dangerous conflict by behaving like mercenaries?!" the king demanded.

Ellen had trouble suppressing her anger at the outright disrespect the king held against mercenaries, and even in his hiding place Naruto had to consciously remove his hand from the kunai pouch he wore on his right leg.

The tension was shattered when Sofya began walking forward.

"If I may…" she said as she kneeled down, "I would address your majesty."

"Sofya Obertas…" the King addressed her, giving her permission to speak.

"Brune is not thinking of bringing our land into conflict in the midst of their strife." Sofya began. "Before long, they will come to inquire of our intentions. When they do, we may explain to them the position of our land." Ellen was more than slightly surprised at her words. "While there is indeed an issue with her taking action without obtaining your majesty's leave, from times of yore, battle has always favored haste over caution."

 _'Finally, someone who speaks my language!'_ Naruto thought…though to be honest he only understood the last part, 'battle has always favored haste over caution'.

Later, after the assembly had been dismissed

Ellen stood outside, leaning against a pillar, thinking about what the king had said after Sofya spoke up.

She sighed, glad to at least be out of the assembly hall.

"My, my, my, of all the people to run into." Someone said. "Imagine, starting a war without permission…" Ludomila stopped walking when she was a safe distance from Ellen. "Still lacking in your self-awareness as a war maiden, I see, and you don't have that watchdog of yours with you this time, Eleonora Viltaria."

What neither of them, or anyone else for that matter knew, was that Naruto was actually less than 30 alsins away from them…and fortunately for him he was standing upside down on the ceiling above them, giving him a clear view right down into Ellen's cleavage…and since he was upside down, the blood that would normally flow down his face remained in his nose, though it was making it difficult to breath for him…he kept on asking himself why that was…

"Hmph! And I see you still haven't grown any, Ludomila Lourie." Ellen said to the Ice Vanadis with a smirk of her own, pushing her chest out slightly to indicate her point. "What do you say? If you adopt a humble attitude and bow your head, I would be more than happy to show you how to grow taller and gain bigger breasts than…whatever those are…"

"And I never asked you for that." Ludomila said. "You've become quite the smarty, haven't you? You, the human embodiment of boorishness and inelegance, offering to teach others?"

Naruto silently dropped down behind her.

"Where I come from, we'd say that at least she has something to show for it." He whispered into her ear, scaring the crap out of her. "And am I correct in saying that you are the human embodiment of simply being short and small…" he didn't finish as Ludomila grabbed her spear and swung it at him…and again…and again. "I seem to be correct here…short temper, small body…and I might add 'little' to the list because she has little to no skill in observation."

Ellen and a few of the passerby's were laughing by now.

Suddenly something hit both Naruto and Ludomila on the head, hard.

"Geez…" both of them turned their heads and came face to face with a pair of breasts that were each bigger than their heads. Naruto thought he was looking at Granny Tsunade's bust for a moment there…

"…This won't do, you two." Naruto looked up and saw that it was Sofya. "It is bad enough that I have to keep telling Ellen and Mila not to quarrel with each other."

For a moment there was silence, then…

"This jerk started it…" 'Mila' began, talking, pointing at Naruto.

"Shut up, pipsqueak…" Naruto shouted.

Another loud colliding sound echoed down the open hallway.

"By the way, Ellen…" Sofya said from her position before a pair of figures holding their heads in pain, "…why are you still here? I was sure you had already left the palace."

"Oh, right." Ellen said. "I wanted to thank you for speaking up for me. You really saved me there." She turned to Mila. "Get lost, Shorty. I need to speak with Sofya for a moment."

Mila turned to leave, before stopping next to Naruto.

"I feel sorry for you, having to put up with her, Uzumaki-san." With that she walked off.

"Well, the two of you have turned Ludomila against you, that is for sure." Sofya said.

"Huh?" Ellen looked at her in confusion.

"Is it really that much of a deal?" Naruto asked, prompting the two war maidens to look at him. "I mean, isn't she the human embodiment of small, short and anything little? Surely her being an opponent will only be a small annoyance…" Ellen and Sofya were giggling at that.

"She may be small, but she isn't the shortest war maiden. As for her being an annoyance, well, that depends on ones perspective." Ellen said, wiping away tears of mirth.

Sofya then led Naruto to the royal gardens where she explained Mila's predicament.

Her house and the House of Thenardier have long standing ties to one another, starting long before she was even born.

Meanwhile in the countryside near Alsace

"Lord Tigre…Lord Tigree…" Tigre saw a young Titta looking down at him. Next they were running across a field, laughing as they went, towards a tall man with red-brown hair and beard using a hoe to plow said field.

"Come, till the ground." The man said, looking at him. Suddenly he was holding the hoe and was tilling the ground as the man had.

Then he looked down at his blistered hands, saying they hurt.

He looked around at the other people currently tilling the field as they were.

"Tigrevurmud…" the man next to him said, "We are here in case anything happens. We serve so that those people can live peaceful lives. That is what a feudal lord is for."

"Father…" Tigre said.

"Tigrevurmud, you are…" the Man, know known as Tigre's father, said.

"Father…Father…! Father!" the young Tigre shouted as the man started fading.

"Father!" Tigre said, waking up with a cold sweat. Sitting up, he found himself still in the hunting lodge he always used when hunting for extended periods of time. Next to him, he saw Titta sleeping…with a cute face.

 _Flashback_

 _Tigre had just finished his daily ritual before the black bow when he was approached by Titta._

 _"Hey there, what's with that outfit?" Tigre asked. "You look like Red Riding Hood you know."_

 _"You're going to the commune of Hunawihr, right?" she said. "I've prepared lunch for you. And these clothes are more comfortable to travel long distances in."_

 _"I'm going to see how the commune is doing. This isn't for pleasure." Tigre told her._

 _Titta ignored his words. "I'm going, too!"…well, she ignored his last sentence… "With you!" she added._

 _Tigre found himself unable to stop her as she used the Puppy Eye Technique, which made her already cute appearance appear almost illegally cute._

 _"Yeah, okay. I did let you get spooked." He relented. "Why don't you come with me?" he asked. She immediately brightened up at that. 'I am getting better at resisting her…5.7 seconds…a new record…' he thought. He then thought about Lim making that face…and immediately found herself unable to resist her will just at the image…_

 _Sometime later_

 _Tigre and Titta were talking to some of the outlying farmers._

 _"We hid in the forest, just as you said we should, and they just marched past us." They said, talking about Thenardiers army._

 _"I really am glad." Tigre said. Titta's smile showed that he was also glad._

 _Flashback end_

Smiling, Tigre reached over and brushed some of her hair away from her face, causing her to wake up and look at him.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked to the still half asleep girl.

3…2…1…

With a blush and a lot of clumsy movements Titta realized that she had fallen asleep…

"I-I'm sorry! I was waiting for the right time to wake you, but before I knew it…" Titta paused here realizing something, "How is it that you are awake before me?"

Tigre just laughed. "You must have been exhausted, too. Sorry. For the second, I guess I have rubbed of on you…"

"Oh, no!" Titte said, fearing that she had become as sleep-savvy as her crush(?)/Friend/Lord/Master… **(pick one)**.

Smiling, Tigre helped her up, then walked outside where, to Titta's absolute shock, the sun was just rising.

 _'Ok, maybe he didn't rub off on me, but for him to wake up at sunrise and he isn't hunting…What in the world is going on?'_ Titta thought.

"This is a fine day for hunting, assuming nothing comes up." Tigre said, stretching the stiffness out of his limbs. His ears twitched when he heard Titta doing the same…with more audible results…

"And no matter where you go, I will go with you." Titta told him, doing a 'morning run and flying hug' exercise…with Tigre being the target…

Late Morning-Early Noon

Titta and Tigre arrived back at the Mansion to a welcoming and surprising sight.

"That horse…" Tigre began, "Sir Mashas!" he joyfully added.

"He's here, isn't he?" Titta asked, just as joyfully.

"Yeah." He answered, eyes almost shining with joy.

3 minutes later

Tigre opened the front door, happy to see Mashas again…

But the sight that greeted him gave him a 180 mood swing from joyous to the 'WTF' mood.

The reason: Lim and Mashas were standing roughly 3 alsins apart and staring/glaring at each other with such intensity, Tigre thought he saw sparks flying between them…and to top it all off, neither was blinking.

For some reason Tigre just felt happy that Naruto wasn't here…he also didn't know why…

Bertrand stood behind Mashas, sweating buckets at the sight of the two veterans trying to stare the other down. He turned to Tigre as he entered and gave him a 'Don't look at me' shrug and a 'I'm not getting between these two' look.

Mashas and Lim must have realized Tigre had entered the room as they both turned to face him at the same time…forgetting to turn off their 'Back off or I will kill you' stares…

"Well then, Tigre," Mashas' tone was also influenced by his stare it seemed, "would you care to explain what's going on?"

"I will…just stop with the glares…please!" Tigre managed, paralyzed by the unexpected glares of two of the most powerful warriors he knew…and neither was holding back with said glares…

One long-ass explanation that lasted until early evening later…

Tigre, Lim, Mashas and Bertrand were sitting at a table, the former two sitting rather close to one another, whilst Titta was serving Tea, for the there-were-so-many-servings-that-she-stopped-counting time.

"I understand the circumstances." Mashas said, before turning to Lim with his usual warm personality. "lady Limlisha, I appologize for suspecting you and those under you." He told the platinum blond. Titta meanwhile walked around to stand behind Tigre, secretly not wanting to stand in a position where she would become jealous of a certain blondes' assets…

"No, I should apologize. You couldn't help but be cautious upon suddenly seeing soldiers from another land here." Lim returned with a smile, having heard about Mashas even in Zhcted, but not knowing that it was him when she tried staring him down.

"Sir Mashas, I'm sorry to trouble you so soon after you've arrived." Tigre told the old man.

"Don't worry about it. Nothing bad came of it." Mashas said, "Now then, Tigre…" he waited for Tigre to respond. "About what happens now…"

For a moment Tigre just thought in silence. Then, "I'm going to fight Duke Thenardier." To the absolute shock of everyone present, except maybe for Titta, who was still trying not to think about someone's superior size…

"Then you're siding with Duke Ganelon?" Mashas asked, his voice turning neutral.

"No. I do not intend to align with either of them." Tigre answered. Lim let out a unnoticeable sigh of relief.

"And you're sure you reached this conclusion after careful thought?" Mashas asked.

"I'm obligated to defend Alsace, which I inherited from my father, and the people who live in it." Tigre said. "No, even without that obligation, I want to defend it. I am a feudal lord, here to defend them in case anything happens."

Mashas was obviously happy with the answer, as his face took on an expression of joy, pride and happiness.

He would later head to the capital of Brune to have an audience with the king of Brune, to appeal for the morality of Tigre's cause.

Meanwhile, Tigre and Lim were going from land to land, looking for allies…all the while growing closer and not realizing what the strange feeling in their hearts were when they were near each other…

Territoire

"I have heard the gist of the situation from Mashas." The lord of Territoire, Hughes Augre, told the delegation from Alsace (Tigre, Lim and Bertrand). Rurick and Hughes' Son, Gerard, had immediately upon seeing each other formed an antagonistic friendship…due to Rurick being jealous of Gerard's hair…because he still had long hair… and Gerard thinking that Warriors and Knights should at least HAVE hair…something that Rurick believed he would never have again after someone had dropped a bucket of powdered hair remover on his head shortly after Tigre shot an assassin's foot with a crude bow he had given him…

"To be frank, with the request coming from you alone, I declined." Hughes continued, "Even though you may be in the right, you were powerless in the face of Duke Thenardier."

"Lord Augre!" Bertrand began, only to stop when Tigre raised his hand.

"'Were'?" Tigre asked.

"Tigre…Or rather, Count Vorn, you have not only Mashas, but the distinguished and powerful forces of Zhcted as an ally." Hughes told him. "You could go up against either Duke Thenardier of Duke Ganelon."

"Then, will you help?" Tigre asked hopeful.

"You are on your way to becoming a third force, next to Thenardier and Ganelon." Hughes said. "While they swear allegiance to the royal family, they refuse to maintain their place beneath them. There are many of us who think so."

Tigre and the others smiled, reading the underlying message in Hughes' words

Few days later, early morning

Tigre and Lim were galloping towards an unknown location…at least for Tigre.

"The Mansion of Kikimora?" he asked. Ok…maybe not completely 'unknown location'…

"A villa, just past the Vosges Mountains." Lim explained.

Sometime later

"Oh, you're here!" an overenthusiastic Ellen said, pouring them a goblet of wine. "Here, drink up!" she added in her usual playful personality.

…then immediately took on a stoic professional persona.

"I got the king's permission for the present." She said. "However, there are two trouble spots." She turned to Tigre. "If I obtain the land of Alsace, I must present all of it to the kingdom."

"Present it? You mean, Alsace will be confiscated?" Tigre asked in exasperation.

"Ultimately, that's only if it becomes her territory." Lim said. "Don't worry, something may yet still happen that will change this."

"Mm-hmm. The war is just getting started." Ellen said, changing into a war savvy persona…plus her normal self. "There is however a second problem. The king said this to me at the end: 'Think first about the interests of Zhcted, and behave prudently.'"

For a moment Tigre digested the words, then looked at her in surprise. "That's normal, isn't it?"

"it's hard for you to understand, isn't it, de…Tigre." Lim coughed to hide her near blunder. "The problem with what His Majesty said is the part about thinking first of our national interests."

"Huh?!" Tigre was confused now. Thus Lim began explaining the finer details of what Ellen had said. Ellen continued the explanation after Lim left to answer a knock on the front door.

Tigre was becoming more and more confused as Ellen went from talking about a possible opposition to talking about…a potato?!

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A POTATO, YOU WHORE?!" said 'Potato' shouted as she slammed the door open.

Tigre flinched while his hand instinctively reached for his hunting knife before he remembered he left it with his bow.

Ellen on the other hand…

"Lim! For what reason did you allow HER to set foot in here?!" she demanded.

"I could not very well turn a war maiden away." Lim said.

"War Maiden?" Tigre asked. _'This short girl is a War Maiden?'_

"One of the prized war maidens of Zhcted…" the newcomer began, "…Mistress of the Piercing Point of Smiting, Ludomila Lourie." She said.

"Nice to meet you." Tigre said, holding out his hand in greeting, completely throwing Mila of balance, expecting him to be in awe at her.

Some arguing about whether or not to return the greeting and a usual scuffle between Ellen and Mila later

"Oh yeah, Ellen. Where is Naruto by the way?" Tigre asked as he, Lim and the two Vanadis prepared their horses to ride towards a border town between Zhcted and Brune.

"Oh, he is still in Silesia." Ellen said, disappointment clear in her voice. "He said he was going to read up on some things in the royal library in return for forging a sword for the Minister of Defense."

"You mean he is still in the Royal Palace?" Mila asked. Ellen nodded. "ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!" she screamed. "HE COULD TRY TO ASSASSINATE THE KING OR…"

"Naruto gave me his word, swearing on his honor as a warrior, that he will not willingly approach the King to a distance of less than 30 Alsins." Ellen told her.

"And how would you know he will keep his promise?" Mila asked. Ellen smirked, having anticipated this question.

"Do you honestly think he would have been able to touch Lavias without any Ill side effects if he was a person who goes back on his word?" she asked.

Any argument from Mila died in said girl's throat at that.

 **Chapter 8, An Axe to Grind and Thin Ice**

Silesia, Royal Library

After having forged a high quality sword for the Minister of Defense, Naruto was granted access to the royal library. Right now he was following an Aide towards a section that had a lot of dust on the shelves, indicating that the books and scrolls hadn't been cleaned or accessed for quite some time.

"Here we go." The Aide told him, indicating a pair of shelves before them.

"Thank you." Naruto told her, giving her a silver coin as thanks.

"You are welcome, Sir, though I you don't mind me asking, why are you so interested in the Shinobi?" she asked.

"I am hoping to learn about them, learn how to identify them and if possible ho to defend against them." Naruto said as he reached for the first book in the shelf. "From what I have heard, Ellen-chan and Tigre-san are going to have some very powerful enemies and from what I have heard from some of them, I wouldn't be surprised if they sent Assassins or even Shinobi after them."

"You really care or them, don't you, Naruto of the Hidden Step?" the Aide asked.

Naruto sighed at the use of his newest Title. After Ellen had left, he appeared before the King and his Ministers, keeping a distance of at least 30 Alsins between himself and the King…and explained his promise to Ellen about the distance. His sudden and silent appearance as well as the equally sudden and silent disappearance gave him the initial Moniker, 'the Ghost', but Naruto quickly returned to argue against that title, much to the humor of the King and some of the Advisors. Other offered Titles included:

-Naruto the Dumbass on Legs

-Naruto the Knuckleheaded Sneaker

-Naruto of the Hidden Step

-Naruto, the pet of Eleonora Viltaria

-Naruto the Honorable Idiot

-Naruto the Honorable Fool

-Naruto of the Destructive Integrity

-Naruto the Virgin Warrior (This one was scrapped when Naruto asked them what a Virgin was…)

-Naruto the Completely Oblivious

…As well as other (hilarious) Titles.

After the Aide had left, Naruto began reading , thankful that Ellen had secretly been teaching him their alphabet (Which Naruto picked up very quickly thanks to shadow clones).

At first there was nothing that could catch his eye, then 1 shelf and 4 books later he paused, turning back a page to read the paragraph again.

 _Unknown Book, page 128, Paragraph 3_

 _"Out of all the various shinobi groups in existence, the most notorious is the Ninja group known as Serrash. Known for their Team effort during assassinations, these shinobi work in teams of seven and will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve their objective. Due to their unmoral and unethical methods and their loyalty to their cause, it has never occurred that a member of the Serrash has ever left the order or defeated in single combat or convinced to spare their target."_

Naruto turned the Page.

 _Page 129, Paragraph 1_

 _"The signature method of assassination of Serrash is unknown as it is reported that each Cell has a different method of assassination. What is known is that all members have a Chain Tattoo somewhere on their body, and it is said that there is a link in that chain for every target they have killed."_

The Information ended there, and all that Naruto had learned was that the Serrash was similar to some of the Akatsuki members in terms of ethics. That still didn't mean he knew much about the shinobi in this world.

He was reaching for the next book when a voice interrupted him.

"You know, there is only so much you can learn from the books and scrolls found here." Naruto paused and turned his head to look at a short girl with light purple eyes, hazel hair with a pink ribbon and pink clothes…and oversized pink boots and gauntlets…

On her back was a small axe…

 _'A pink Axe?! The Heck?'_ Naruto thought, _'And those clothes don't suit her…she needs more growth in more than height for those clothes to be actually useful…Wait…stop Naruto…you are not Ero-sennin…'_

"And how would a young girl like you know about that?" Naruto asked, not noticing the small group of people listening in on their conversation…at least he noticed them when they sharply inhaled at his question…as well as his next sentence. "Why don't you go play with a doll or something?!"

"This _young girl_ could kick your ass any time of the week and I don't have any dolls." The girl said, glaring at him.

"U-huh…" Naruto told her, not believing her words. "Then why don't we test that theory?"

"OK." The girl answered before grabbing his hand and practically dragging him after her. He he got dragged past the spectators, he saw several of them make the 'rest in peace' sign.

Shortly afterwards

"Let go of me, you damn Brat!" Naruto shouted after he got dragged down a third flight of stairs.

"I am only making sure you won't run away." The girl said.

Naruto made a mental note to prank the girl later on…sabotaging her clothes seemed like a good idea…

Another 'shortly afterwards'…

Naruto dusted off his backside after having been dragged from the library to a large training field behind the royal palace.

"This is your last chance to apologize before I beat the crap out of you." The girl told him.

"I think I now know why Shikamaru always found woman troublesome…" Naruto muttered.

Naruto suddenly felt a presence approaching…rather several actually…

Turning his head, he saw the old king and several others, including the purple bitch with the grass cutting tool and the hetero-chromatic bimbo, as well as a man who looked like a younger version of the old king, approaching.

Naruto turned his attention back to the girl just in time to see the blade of an enormous axe heading right for his face…he barely had enough time to evade the attack, and the resulting collision with the ground sent him flying.

"What was that for?" he asked. "And what is with the oversized wood chopping tool?"

With the spectators

"Did he just…" someone asked.

"Valentina…it seems like you aren't the only one who got her Dragon Tool dissed…" the hetero-chromatic female told the purple bitch.

"Well, it seems like I will not get the pleasure of fucking with him…" Valentina said. "He has flipped Olga's switch big time there, don't you agree, Liza?"

"Well, it is a pity that Ellen isn't here…" Liza said with an agreeing tone.

Back in the battle

"Stand still!" the girl, Olga, shouted.

"I'd rather not." Naruto returned. "I do not yet have a death wish."

"Then fight back!" Olga shouted, swing her axe at him again.

"I am not fond of fighting against 10 year olds either…" Naruto said, before he was sent flying when Olga smashed the axe into the ground, breaking it. Naruto had a sense of Déjà vu and remembered a time shortly after he returned from his training trip with his God-father…

"I will let you know that I am 14 years old." The girls said, before she was suddenly sent flying into one of the rock formations she had created just now when she broke the ground.

"In that case, prepare to taste defeat." Naruto said, stretching his muscles whilst standing where she had been mere moments earlier.

Olga could only ogle at him.

"When did you move?" she asked.

"Whilst you were boasting about your age, youngster." Naruto told her, before moving to engage her in hand to hand combat…ahem…hand to axe combat…

Olga found herself being completely outclassed by Naruto, who was moving at such speeds that she was barely able to keep up with his presence…neither were the spectators.

Nobody noticed the small, almost invisible cuts Naruto was placing on Olga's clothes using wind chakra.

After a minute Naruto disengaged and appeared several alsins away from her, before turning and walking away.

"Where do you think…" Olga began as she took a step forward, then wondered why it felt drafty for a moment.

"Back to the Library…I still have 5 shelves of books to go through…" Naruto answered. "And I don't think you would like to continue fighting in your birthday suit…"

"PERVERT! PEDOPHILE!" Olga shouted after him.

"Hey, don't call me a Pedophile…I am only 16 years old." Naruto shouted back a he disappeared into the Palace, heading towards the Library.

Olga and everyone else was stunned by that bit of news.

Just past the doors

Naruto leaned against one of the pillars, grasping his left shoulder.

"She may be small, but Granny Tsunade would be proud of her strength…" he muttered, "…and temper…"

He looked up at the ceiling.

"I wonder how Ellen-chan and Tigre-san are doing…" he muttered to himself.

After a while, he sighed. "You can come out now, old man." Naruto said, turning to the side where he saw the king step out of the shadows.

"I know you and I are not on peaceful terms, but I have a request for you." The king said, before chuckling. "To think the one I trust the most with this request is the one I should trust the least…"

"What do you want, old man?" Naruto asked with a neutral voice.

"I have received word that Thenardier is planning on hiring Serrash to assassinate a man called Tigrevurmud Vorn as well as Eleonora Viltaria." The King said. "My request is this…Please protect them. I had a dream, a vision if you will, that those two and their friends will one day ensure the safety of not just Zhcted, but also Brune, creating an alliance between the two nations that will last for generations to come."

"Then why allow Ludomila Lousy…ah…Lousie…Lou-whatever to side with that Thenardier jerk? And how do I know that I can trust your word?" Naruto asked.

"Because if I am wrong you may ask of me anything that is mine to give." He said.

"Fine, I will do it, but I have one condition though." Naruto said.

"Name it." The king said.

"I would like you to allow Ellen to continue supporting Tigre in his fight until she feels he no longer needs her help." Naruto said.

"Agreed." The king said.

Naruto turned and got ready to get moving, before speaking one last sentence, "You know, you are not as selfish as I thought you were." And was gone before he could get an answer.

Rodnik, long before sunrise next morning

Naruto arrived at the border town after having run continuously for most of the night and the previous day, having to spend the last two hours because he had actually run past the town without noticing it and coming to a village where he found a map of the two nations.

It took absolutely no effort for him to sneak into the town as he just jumped over the wall whilst the guard weren't looking. He then went to go search for Ellen and the others, creating clones to increase the ground covered. It didn't take long for one of the clones to come upon a guard patrol talking about two war maidens and an archer who brought in a wounded female…well, Naruto didn't think much of it…he thought that Ellen would not willingly travel with another war maiden and thought that it was someone else. It took a little longer for another clone to come across another guard patrol taking about the same group of people, but what caught the clone's attention was the mentioning of a white haired beauty and a pink haired archer.

 _'OK, WTF?'_ Naruto thought. _'Who is the second war maiden? I hope it is that Blond one with the prayer staff…'_

Somewhere else

Sofya gave a sudden sneeze.

"What…you too?" She asked the staff, which momentarily brightened. "So…someone was talking about us…" Sofya murmured.

Back with Naruto and…clone company

The clone was about to dispel itself when it heard the guard mentioning something about where the war maiden might be found.

 _'The Boss really needs to learn about this…'_ The clone thought before silently disappearing.

Naruto changed direction when he got the memories of one of his clones, followed shortly by those from his other clones. He was about to go check out the Ramen stand…you know…maybe Ellen could be there…

Now he was heading to the Castle at the center of the Town and soon was running up and down its walls looking for the room where he would find the people he was looking for…at least consciously…unconsciously he was looking for the only female he knew with snow white hair…and he didn't know why…

He soon found a window leading into a bathroom with already steaming water, and not considering if it was a gender specific bath or not, he decided he needed a wash anyway. Therefore he sealed his clothes and gear in a scroll made from water resistant paper and sealed that in a seal he carried on the underside of his arm…then began to wash.

He didn't know what was going on outside of the bathroom…at least HE didn't…

Meanwhile, outside of the bathroom…

Ellen, together with some of the Castle Maids were trying and succeeding in not giggling as they swapped the 'Male' and 'Female' of the bathrooms as part of a prank that Ellen and, oddly, Mila wanted to play on Tigre and Lim. They didn't replace the sign on the female side though.

Lim was already in the other bathroom enjoying the warm water while Tigre was in the changing room, getting ready to go bath.

Moments later the signs were swapped and Ellen and Mila went to the female changing rooms to undress.

With Tigre

Tigre followed the signs towards the Male Bathroom, unaware of what would greet him on the other side.

He opened the door and walked right into Lim, who was about to walk out of the bathroom…well…they were too shocked to speak, let alone move…not that they could have spoken in any case as the ones mouth was covering the other's.

Before either knew what was happening, hormones took over…neither of them noticed that they were moving towards the bath…until they fell into it together…now that snapped them back into reality…and it didn't exactly end well for Tigre as Lim had to vent some embarrassment…

Neither of them noticed the figure disappearing from the open door…

With Ellen

Ellen was giggling as she walked towards the 'unoccupied' bathroom. Walking in, she didn't notice the figure already inside until after she sat down on the stairs of the bath…

The other person however noticed her.

"You know…" a voice suddenly whispered from right next to her ear, making her jump and cutely yell out in surprise, "…pranking others is my job…and you did a poor job at this one…" Naruto didn't finish before he was jumped by Ellen, who pressed her lips against his, giving him a hot and passionate kiss that was meant to convey her feelings to him…key word being 'meant'…

"That would be the first time someone gave me a kiss as a form of simple greeting." Naruto told her. Shocked at his misunderstanding, Ellen searched his face for any traces of mischief and lies, only to find none.

 _'Oh you have got to be fucking joking…'_ she thought in disbelief at yet another failure, getting off of him, she then noticed the scars on his body that were pale in contrast to the red skin from the water.

"So, now that I have found you, mind telling me what has happened while I was away?" Naruto asked her.

Whilst washing his back where she tried using her breasts, only for Naruto to ask her why she was using something as ineffective as her breasts…and then mistaking her full body blush being due to the heat of the water…Ellen explained to Naruto everything that had happened, not knowing that most of the information went in one ear and out the other…Naruto only memorized the main points and nothing else.

After Naruto gave her a brief 'report' about what he did, she told him about Olga and that she was surprised he was able to walk after all the damage she did to him.

She then asked him if he knew what love was, becoming more and more embarrassed when she asked the question.

"Love…isn't that the bond between family members that keeps them together?" Naruto asked. "Isn't it also what girls claim to their driving force when they try to impress a teme with a large stick up his ass? Or why a girl would throw herself at an enemy she knows she cannot beat?"

Ellen nearly choked on her own tongue at his answer.

"Uhm, the first one is part of it, though I don't know what the hell you mean with the other two…" Naruto gave her a brief description of Sasuke and his fangirls in the academy as well as Hinata jumping in to save him from Pain shortly before he arrived in this world.

…

Ellen decided to tell him the definition of love…and she should probably have predicted that Naruto would misunderstand her…again…though neither of them knew that she had planted a seed in his soul that would soon grow rapidly…after managing to root its way into his thick, dense skull…

Meanwhile, back in the other bathroom

Tigre had managed to come out unscathed from Lim's embarrassment venting by catching her wrists in his own, only for the residual hormones to take over both of them…again…Though Tigre still had enough self control to prevent the removal of his bathing towel…Lim having lost hers whilst trying to vent her embarrassment…not that either cared at the moment…

"We have to keep this a secret…" Lim said after the most recent make out session.

"Agreed…Who knows what Naruto and Ellen would do if they found out…" Tigre said and both of them felt a shiver run down their spines.

"…and if you two don't go and find yourselves a room, they will very soon find out about this…" the two of them jumped in surprise at the new voice, "Honestly, if you continue here, those two will not be the only ones who find out…"

The next, and last thing (for a few hours only) the two saw was long free falling light blue hair and a crystal tipped spear appearing out of the steam before them…

Back with Ellen and Naruto

"Hey, did you know that that blue spear-wielding girl is also in this castle?" Naruto asked. "I think she may be in the other bathroom…"

Ellen's heart stopped for a very brief moment as she realized she may have inadvertently doomed her best friend as well as Tigre to a very…cold and icy fate…

Sometime later

After somehow managing to get the large chunk of Ice with the two people trapped inside it out of the 'pseudo freezer room', Ellen had large fires built around the ice to begin the defrosting, only for Naruto to appear, look at the ice closely.

"Any Ideas, Naruto?" Ellen asked.

She, and everyone else in the room, which included Mila, jumped back in fright as Naruto let out a strained cry, then proceeding to bash his head against the ice…continuously…whilst saying "Think!" each time his head connected…

About a dozen 'Thinks' later, to the great surprise of Mila (And everyone else), the Ice began to crack. The only one not to notice was the very person who caused the crack to form.

"Think! *BANG* Think! *BANG* Think! *CRACK*…" with that last one the entire block shattered, leaving behind the two formerly trapped figures.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked.

The sweat-drops on every onlooker was as big as their heads.

 **Chapter 9, The Hunter and Revelations**

Early the next morning Naruto found himself staring in surprise at the amount of what he called 'Crap' that was sold in the market district…as well as the stuff that he called 'Useful Stuff'.

The things he labeled as 'Crap' included: **(With Naruto's opinions in brackets afterwards)**

-Ornamental weapons ("A Toothpick is more useful than this stuff…")

-Large Coin Bags ("Do People WANT to get their money stolen?")

-Elegant Dresses ("How the Hell is anyone supposed to move in that?")

-Stiletto style Boots (What the fuck is that?")

-Scented Soap and Lotions ("What a Stench…")

-Paintings of things he didn't recognize ("Sai's scribble Art is more interesting than that…")

-Caged Animals (Well, Mila had to help the other three in holding him down long enough for him to calm down…before pitching in as well to buy a baby Fox for Naruto…)

As well as Other things.

In Konoha (At the moment Naruto saw the paintings)

Konoha was in the middle of a coup as Root tried taking over the Leadership.

On the orders of Danzo, Sai was preparing to use a Ink sealing technique on the entire Council, including Tsunade, when he suddenly sneezed, sending the Ink Seal at Danzo, who didn't have the time to dodge.

Back with Naruto

Anongst the things that Naruto called 'Useful' was:

-Instant Ramen (Naruto bought as much as he could with a Gold Coin, then asked to have it delivered to the Castle for him)

-The Baby Fox the others had bought for him (It had instantly taken a liking to Naruto, to the surprise of the stall vendor and the others)

-A food vendor (After some teasing from Ellen and Naruto, Mila tried some soup and proceeded to devour 3 more bowl of the soup, claiming she was just hungry…Naruto decided not to call her on the Bullshit…)

-Weapons dealers (One of whom got into an argument with Naruto over the quality of his weapons and making the worst possible mistake…He made a bet with Naruto: A gold coin if Naruto's sword can cut through his best sword…Naruto would later go and use that coin to buy the Ramen [above])

-Armor Dealers (which is where they are now…)

Naruto looked at some of the stock the vendor sold, before pointing to a rather odd (For him) looking Item. It was a piece of clothing that his Late Godfather would have been proud off…

"What is that?" he asked.

"Armor, what else would it be?" the Vendor answered.

"A Hunter's Outfit?" Naruto returned, only to turn around when Ellen and, surprisingly, Lim began rolling around on the floor, laughing. Tigre had his back turned, hoping nobody could see his blush…he may or may not have visualized Lim or Titta wearing that Getup… **(1)**

"For Women hunting for men, aye…" the Vendor gave a muttered agreement…

"Do you have a size that will fit the short one behind me?" Naruto asked jokingly. "With her small…size…she may have problems finding someone…"

Ellen began laughing so hard she couldn't breathe and Mila was having 99.9% of her senses screaming at her to Kill Naruto, the 0.1% being that there were small children around and she didn't want to traumatize them…

"Unfortunately not, but if her getup showed a little more skin, it would be just as effective as that other getup." The Vendor said, "Unfortunately she doesn't have much to show at the moment…"

Mila: 50% Kill Naruto; 49.9% Kill the Vendor…

"I know a few people who have are smaller in many areas than her who would kill to have a body like hers…" Naruto said, surprising everyone by the sudden compliment, until… "Now that I think about it, they were all taller than her and they were all Fan girls, so most of them would actually just go for the mole hills…"

Mila: 100% Kill the blonde asshole, Vendor: forgiven.

The Feminine Roars of Anger were heard across the town and out on the fields…

Several Days Later

"That damn Thenardier…unlike his son, he knows how to think…" Ellen muttered. She, Lim, Tigre and Naruto were standing before a large map showing both Brune and Zhcted.

"So that Ice-Queen is siding with Then-a-Deer?" Naruto asked. **(2)**

"She is." Ellen said, not sounding disappointed one bit.

"You are going to fight her?" Tigre asked.

"You have no Idea how long I have waited for this opportunity…" Ellen smirked.

"What are you planning, Eleonora-sama?" Lim asked.

Ellen smirked at her.

In a different place

"Our Team has been killed, the Targets are still alive." A shady figure said.

"And apparently a powerful warrior has joined them." Another said.

"Send three more teams after them." A third said.

"Right away, Leader." The two said in unison.

Several days later (again)

Naruto was bored out of his mind. The reason? Ellen had strictly forbidden him from taking part in the first battle with Mila. Thus he was forced to watch from the sidelines as the two armies clashed.

"Man, the lessons in the Academy were more interesting than this…" Naruto muttered.

Ok…maybe bored out of his mind was too weak an expression for the state he was in…

He just lay back and began watching the clouds.

"Shikamaru…is this why you constantly watch clouds?" he mumbled to himself. "Cause the clouds really are interesting…"

Back in Konoha

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru suddenly said whilst on a date with Temari.

"What is?" Temari asked.

"I feel like Naruto is actually being lazy for once…" Shikamaru told her, "Everyone knows that that is my job, troublesome damnit…"

Back with Naruto

Naruto must have dozed off because when he regained consciousness, he found himself on top of Ellen and holding a knife to her throat. As before, he didn't realize where his hand was…

"Uhm, Naruto…" Ellen began, "Do you think you could maybe get off me?"

"Oh, sorry." Naruto answered, doing as she asked, then helping her up.

"Where the hell did you hide that knife?" one of the commanders of Ellen's army asked.

"Here." Naruto said, pulling the knife from behind the man's ear, much to his fright and the mirth of the others at the simple, yet effective trick.

"So," Naruto turned into his serious mode, "What did I miss?"

"One hell of a fight." Ellen said.

 _'Wouldn't call what you guys did a fight…'_ Naruto thought, remembering the few parts that he remembered: people swinging swords like lunatics, archers sending arrows in waves, said arrows landing in a relatively small area, blaring horns…and lots of pointless yelling…

"And what is the next step?" Naruto asked.

"Tomorrow when we engage again, I'll engage Mila in single com…" Ellen stopped speaking when Naruto yawned.

"Sorry, you lost me at 'again'." He apologized.

Ellen, Lim and most of the high ranking Officers wither had twitching eyebrows or were sweat dropping.

"Let me try." Lim said. "Tomorrow, we are going to kick the enemy's ass."

Naruto hit his right fist like a hammer into his open left hand. "Oh, So that is the plan." He said.

"How were you able to do that, Limlisha-dono?" Bertrand asked.

"First time for everything…" Lim said.

"So…do you guys want me to…" Naruto began, but Ellen interrupted.

"You are sitting this one out as well." She said sternly.

"You're mean…" Naruto slumped. He had better not tell her about the clones he had sent to infiltrate the enemy army…she may just become very angry and scare the crap out of him…troublesome woman…

That night

Naruto was sitting on top of a makeshift watchtower that Ellens's army had built, meditating.

He had just 'escaped' another one of Ellen's weird 'experiments', he didn't know what else they were, on him.

 _'Seriously, trying to give me CPR when I am conscious…'_ he thought, _'What is wrong with her? And wait…why am I thinking about her like this?'_

He was about to enter Sage mode when he felt the memories from one of the clones on infiltration duty rushing into his brain.

 _'So, the small one is withdrawing her troops to her Citadel…'_ Naruto thought, having gone through the memories. _'I'd better not tell Ellen…I gotta keep the clones a secret…'_

After a while, he stood up and disappeared into the shadows of the campsite.

Shortly afterwards

"…Mila has always been strong at defensive warfare. She is widely regarded as the best amongst the War Maidens." Naruto arrived outside the command tent as Ellen was saying those words, and decided not to enter yet. "This despite her personality being so aggressive."

 _'I wouldn't say she is aggressive…she doesn't come close to an angry Sakura-chan…'_ Naruto thought. _'Now THAT is aggressive incarnate!'_

"I didn't see Ludomila-sama at the forefront too often." Lim said.

"I'd like to avoid seeing it if possible." Tigre sighed.

"Hey, she cannot beat me in field Warfare…that is my speciality." Ellen said with a hint of Humor in her voice. "By the way, do either of you know where Naruto is?"

"I havn't seen or heard of him since you tried kissing him earlier." Lim said.

 _'Wait…kissing…isn't that what what a boy and a girl does when they really like each other?'_ Naruto thought. _'Yeah, sure, I know she likes me, but I highly doubt that she likes me at THAT level…'_

"Hey, words may usually be more powerful than a sword, but not with this him." Ellen protested. "If I have learned anything about him, it is that actions speak louder than words."

"And he has the Unique ability to misunderstand anything spoken to him…" Tigre said, to which Ellen nodded.

 _'Hey…I am not that bad…'_ Naruto wanted to shout, but stayed silent…something inside of him agreed with Tigre.

"Well, let's get some shut eye. Tomorrow we have yet another battle ahead of us." Ellen said. The other two agreed.

Next day

"THEY WHAT?" the entire Camp was roused by Ellen's scream.

 _Short Flashback_

 _"Ellen, wake up." Naruto said, shaking the still sleeping female._

 _"Mhm…That's it, Naruto…right there…" she muttered._

 _'She talks in her sleep…I don't want to know what she is dreaming about…' he thought, then remembered a trick his perverted Godfather once taught him…It is said to have a 95% guarantee of waking up any female._

 _"Oh, well, here goes nothing. Plan B!" he said…and groped her breast…hard…_

 _Well…the technique was a 'screaming' success…literally…Ellen woke up immediately with a high pitched surprised scream._

 _"Yo, Ellen." Naruto greeted her. Before she could respond or even process what had happened, he continued. "Just thought I'd let you know that that small one's army is not going to fight your army."_

 _A few seconds went by, then… "THEY WHAT?"_

 _Short Flashback end_

Half an hour later

"The Olmütz army has completely withdrawn their forces." Lim reported after having gone to scout the battlefield. "It appears the enemy is headed into the Tatra Mountains."

Ellen smashed her fist into the ground at the news.

"We've been taken!" she growled.

"Are you saying that Ludmila intended to do this from the start?" Tigre asked.

"Yesterday's battle must have been meant to sound us out." Ellen muttered. "Have our forces move towards Tatra Citadel." She called out. "Naruto!" Naruto stepped forward, "Head on ahead of our forces and scout the area."

"Roger that." He answered before racing of at high speed. On the way he passed Titta, who was currently bringing food for Konoha (Naruto named the Baby Fox in Honor of his Home Town) and unknowingly sent a small chunk of crushed Ice, sent flying from his feet, right into her Maid Uniform, where it got stuck in her cleavage.

Naruto paused at the edge of Camp when he heard her scream in fright and terror as the cold water trickled down between her breasts.

"The Heck…?" he wondered.

Later that day

 _'Hmm, There is only one route towards the Citadel from this side…'_ Naruto thought as he surveyed the area around the Citadel. _'The flanks are protected by sheer cliffs and the defenders can focus their fire on a pretty narrow patch of land. Not sure about Ellen's army, but getting in there is going to be a walk in the park…'_

Naruto began focusing on the defender themselves, looking through a makeshift telescope.

"2…3…about 4 dozen guards on this side alone…The small one sure knows how to prevent a surprise attack…Oh, what's this?" he focused on the walls running along the cliffs. "1…2…only 3 guards on each of the side walls? Does she want me to infiltrate through there?"

He looked down the Valley away from the Citadel. There he saw Ellen's army approaching in an orderly fashion.

The next day

Naruto looked in confusion at the odd contraptions that the Leitmeriz army built, those so called 'Siege Engines'. From what he understood, the 'Siege Towers' would allow their forces to get up onto the walls without having to breach the gate, which was to be broken down with a 'Battering Ram' (Naruto though they were just going to let loose a Head-butt-happy Goat upon the gate at that name) whilst the 'Catapults' would lob huge boulders against the walls, rather, the Battlements and the Towers.

"Bushy-Brows and Bushy-Brows-sensei would have a field day with these Cat-an-Bolts." Naruto commented when he looked at the Catapults. The Engineers chuckled at his attempt to name the siege engine.

He couldn't wait to see them in action…

Timeskip to the Battle

To say that Naruto was disappointed would be correct. The Towers barely got halfway before the 'Mangonels' atop the walls destroyed them with large boulders. The Ram meanwhile got to the gate, only to have Oil poured over it, followed shortly by a burning torch.

The Catapults at least were of some use, but they rarely ever hit their target and the rocks that struck the wall barely left a crack.

In short, the assault was a failure.

That Evening

"Damn that Potato…The way this is going, the battle will just get drawn out!" Ellen shouted. "The cold is already numbing our soldiers spirits!"

She began ranting on about several Plans, all of them being dismissed by Tigre, Lim and Naruto…Well…mostly only the former 2…as being suicide missions.

Eventually Tigre came up with a proposal, which, Ellen disagreed to, as it could take several days for it to be finished. Lim also disagreed, and when Naruto asked her why, she answered, "I am not going to let the one I lo…" and then she went atomic whilst Tigre went as pink as his hair.

"Oh ho…what have we here?" Naruto smirked, before beginning to grill the two, much to Ellen's amusement.

The Grilling ended 5 minutes later.

"Well, being in love is not forbidden. Don't worry, I don't like pranking people because of that." Naruto said.

"Then why did you ask those questions?" Tigre asked.

"Because A) you tried hiding your relationship when the entire army already knew and B)…seriously, If I hadn't grilled you, It would have been Ellen…and I believe Lim knows where that would have gone…" Lim, who had calmed down to a full cheek blush went atomic again.

"That bad, huh?" Tigre asked her.

"Now, Lim…" Naruto began before approaching her and whispering into her ear, "If you don't let Tigre scout the area and finding a second route into the Citadel, I'll tell everyone about your joy at gathering teddy bears…"

"I take back my Vote…Tigre can go…" Lim immediately said, hoping that Naruto wouldn't do that.

Ellen looked betrayed at that, but finally relented.

Early the next day

"Tigre, ready to go?" Ellen asked.

"Yeah." He answered, before being stopped by Lim, who held up a cloak of some kind. It turned out to be a bear skin with the fore-limbs being turned into sleeves for ease and the head being turned into a hood.

"I once heard about a Village that dresses in Animal skins when going out hunting and travelling. Also, this will hide your identity somewhat." Lim said, before she was suddenly given a push by Ellen. Stumbling, her Lips came in contact with Tigre's, and after two or three heartbeats, the 'kiss' became more that just 'accidental'.

"Tigre," Naruto said after the two separated, giving him a small pouch of small balls. "These are called Soldier Pills where I come from and are basically food and energy in one package. Eat them only when you need to." Tigre nodded, not knowing what the hell he was talking about, having never heard of 'Soldier Pills'…neither have Lim and Ellen…

 **(Tigre's small scouting mission is the same as in the Anime)**

At the time that Tigre…'Urs' was talking to Mila in the Cave

"Why don't you let me fight?" Naruto asked Ellen.

"Because you are our trump Card. Mila doesn't know about your fighting Prowess and I had rather not risk the men and women finding out about your former…line of work." Ellen said. "Yes, everyone knows you are a fine swordsman, but there have already been some rumors about you, stating that the way you move is nothing like that of an ordinary swordsman, it is more like someone's footsteps who doesn't want to be heard."

Naruto sighed.

"Sorry, but my training has been forced into muscle memory and beyond, I doubt I'll be able to NOT move like that for extended periods of time…" Naruto sighed. "But…"

"But nothing. Please, Naruto…" Ellen took on a pleading voice, "Like Lim, I cannot let the one I love get into danger."

"Hang on…" Naruto held up one hand whilst the other clutched his head. "You are telling me that those times you tried practicing your CPR and mouth-to-mouth skills on me were actually you trying to say that you love me? What…" he was silenced by Ellen stepping forward and covering his mouth with her own.

After a moment, she backed off slightly. "Just shut up. Promise me that you will not take part in the fighting!" she said.

Naruto, after recovering from his shock, nodded…she didn't see the crossed fingers he had behind his back…

Time skip, after Ellen, Tigre and the 100 men left to assault the back door

Naruto was running along the cliff face, heading towards the Citadel.

 _'Sorry, Ellen…chan (?)…but that is a promise I just couldn't make.'_ He thought grimly as he reached the area directly below the walls and began running straight up, using chakra to stay on the cliff face.

Getting over the walls was easier than he thought and he melted away into the shadows of the buildings inside.

Silently he made his way towards the back entrance, then began meditating to pass the time.

Few hours before Dawn

Naruto was literally blown out of his slumber when a massive explosion shattered the gate, and shortly afterwards he saw Ellen, Tigre and the soldiers rushing through the breach.

He had to give credit to the Olmütz soldiers though…their reaction time was very fast…Mila must have predicted that this sneak attack would happen, or it was just part of their training.

As Naruto was focused on the battle at one gate and his clones had 'died' during the previous engagement, he didn't notice the 21 or so shadowy figures moving silently amongst the shadows towards the battle…

Little did he know that things were about to get either very interesting or very complicated…

 **(1): As a reference, think Aela's Outfit from 'The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim' Game…just with more skin being shown…**

 **(2): Ellen had long since given up on correcting Naruto's lack of Name saying skills…**

 **And Done. Once again, sorry for the long wait.**

 **Now, for the**

 **Omake**

The series of Events in the Storyline if Trump were crowned King in Brune and NO Naruto…

Nr.1) Speech containing: "From this Day forward, It is going to be 'Brune First, Brune First'."

Nr.2) Thernardier would be made the Minister of Defence and Armed Forces whilst Ganelon would be made the Minister of Foreign (as well as Secret and shady) Affairs, making both of them happy and thus preventing the Civil War from happening.

Nr.3) All the Subordinate Kingdoms/Duchies/Sovereignties would send messages stating: "Yes, Brune may be first, but may we just say, ######### second?"

Nr.4) He would begin the construction of a Wall between Brune and Zhcted…with Zhcted ending up paying the Bills.

Nr.5) Ellen never captured Tigre, but the two still met and fell in love nonetheless. Trump threatened to turn it into a diplomatic Time-bomb unless Zhcted agreed to pay for the Wall.

Nr.6) A massive Invasion arrives from the south. After defeating that invasion, Trump orders the construction…of another wall…

Nr.7) To the West another Invasion happens, but is stopped by Roland, proclaiming himself to be 'Brune's Western Wall'. Trump decides NOT to build a wall there…though he wondered how big Roland is to be able to cover the entire Western border…

Nr.8) ?


	4. Chapter 10 - Chapter 12

**Hi again**

 **Responds/answers to Reviews:**

 **READER1O1O:** I am glad you liked that. Fits in perfectly with the density scale I created, right?

 **Wolf191000:** Personally I think that some of the War Maidens deserve a little more screen-time, I mean Olga only made short Cameo's in the Anime.

Naruto will only 'unleash' his full power later on in the story.

Also, I am glad you liked it

 **Guest:** You like the appearances of the characters, but you haven't seen the anime?... _Does that even work?_

 **Alex2909:** Well, I couldn't make Naruto remain dense for all eternity, now could I? I mean, I marked the story off as a NarutoXEllen fic…what would the point be if they get together only at the frikken end?

 **Denix-shin:** Thanks for the like.

 **Tera12:** Thanks for the like.

 **:** My pleasure.

 **elder spell:** Thanks for the like.

 **Bornstellar:** I appreciate your comment...I'll try to improve on the points you made.

 **rankoon300:** Thanks for the rating, though I won't make a refresh just yet...let me first finish the story please...

 **Word of Warning! Naruto will have a episode where he is anything but a complete moron in the first chapter.**

 **Now…On to the story…**

 **Chapter 10: Secrets, those that are released and those that remain**

"CHARGE!" Ellen shouted as she ran right into the thickest part of the Olmütz ranks, carving a bloody path through them. Behind her Tigre was shooting arrows with frightening accuracy…frightening for the Olmütz soldiers at least…

…and running past Tigre, the 100 or so soldiers that Ellen brought with her, crashing into the Olmütz lines with loud battle cries.

Due to Ellen's semi Rampage amongst their ranks, the Olmütz formations were already at their breaking point and when the Leitmeritz troops engaged them the battle turned into a furious melee…One where Tigre had absolutely no problems whatsoever shooting arrows with his deadly accuracy…non at all…there would later only be a few complaints from a few soldiers about arrows flying so close to their necks that they felt the wind from the arrows as they flew past…

Up at his vantage point

Naruto was watching the entire thing, wondering how tactics like this could win battles.

Charging right into the enemy lines…really…where were the flanking maneuvers? Where was the team work? Where was the Ramen…

 _'Wait…Why am I thinking about Ramen right now?'_ he thought to himself.

He shook his head and returned to the battle. Even from where he was standing, he could see at least three paths that could be used to outflank the Olmütz soldiers.

-Cross the channel of Water to their far left and flank them from there…but their heavy armor will make them sink to the bottom of the channel…never mind…

-Jump over the entire lot and attack them from the rear…oh right…they are not shinobi…never mind…

-Run along the walls…it can't be that hard…even with all the heavy armor they are wearing…then again, this citadel belongs to an Ice-queen…they may just slip on the ice…so, never mind…

Suddenly the battle stopped and Naruto saw the Olmütz troops reform up on his side of a bridge, the centre of which was blocked by a flag.

Naruto then noticed the 20 presences surrounding the battlefield, but before he could do something, a large explosion rocked the citadel.

On the Battlefield, some time earlier

"The fuck?" several Leitmeritz soldiers shouted as the Olmütz soldiers suddenly retreated across the channel bridge, past a woman clad in sky-blue, and reformed in orderly ranks…though there were fewer ranks in their formation as the short skirmish had taken a toll on their numbers.

"Eleonora…" the woman clad in blue said, her voice being heard all over the Citadel.

"Ludomila Lourie." Ellen said as her own troops reformed behind her.

Both War Maidens got ready to fight, the tension in the air told the soldiers on both sides to GTHAFT.

They had barely made enough space for the two powerful ladies to fight before they started fighting, shockwaves and sparks flying whenever their weapons met.

Tigre meanwhile was shooting down the archers who tried to shoot Ellen.

"STAND BACK!" Mila shouted. "THIS ONE'S MINE!"

The two Vanadis separated one more, before Mila began chanting.

"Freeze through even the skies!" Mila said. "Ciero Zam Kaffa!"

Dozens of Ice Stalactites erupted from the wooden floor of the bridge between her and Ellen as she struck the floor with the butt of her spear, only for Ellen to jump over them.

"Mow down, Air and all! Ley Admos!" Ellen shouted, sending a compressed orb of swirling air at the shorter Vanadis.

Mila jumped far to the side in order to dodge the area effect of Ellen's attack.

"Iceberg!" she said as her spear suddenly extended, touching the water in the channel, forming a huge Ice trench. Mila looked up at Ellen who was standing on a nearby roof.

"How does it feel for you, who is always looking down on others, to now have someone look down on you?" Ellen asked with a smirk.

"You have an insolent mouth!" Mila said, sending a large pillar of Ice crashing into the roof where Ellen stood. Ellen just jumped down onto ground…no…Ice-level. Moments later the two once again engaged in close Combat…with a difference…

"Run her through, Lavias!" Mila shouted, preparing to stab forward with her spear.

"Slice her to pieces, Arifar!" Ellen shouted at the same time, preparing to deliver a crippling slash.

The explosion resulting in their respective attacks colliding made it clear just why the soldiers made so much space. At its peak, the explosion measured 150 alsins wide.

With Tigre

"So this is a fight between War Maidens…" Tigre said in shock and awe.

Some of the nearby Soldiers could do little more than agree with him.

With Naruto

 _'Hmm…about B-rank attacks…'_ Naruto thought. _'Impressive results though.'_

Movement at the corner of his eyes caught his attention and he saw the unknown figures moving around…Naruto prepared for the worst, even if it meant revealing who he is…

Down below

A few Leitmaritz soldiers rappelled down the wall of the crater.

"Lady War Maiden, we're…" one of them began calling over to Ellen.

"Stay back!" Ellen shouted, making them pause. "This will be over soon. Keep out of this."

"You're right. Let's put an end to this." Mila said.

With a war cry Ellen charged, only for one of her troops to come charging at them.

"Who are you?!" Ellen asked, not recognizing him. The hood fell down, revealing a man's face with a bald head with chain-links tattooed underneath his left eye.

"Serrash?!" Mila exclaimed in shock and surprise…an expression mirrored by Ellen.

The man was about to strike one of them down when Tigre's last arrow struck him in the temple, downing him.

The war maidens' relief was short lived though as 20 new figures landed on the floor around them and charged as well, only for 20 other figures to appear between them and their target(s?), blocking their weapons with swords.

"You call yourselves 'Shinobi'?" one of the newer figures asked.

"What of it?" One of the Serrash asked.

"I thought the shinobi of this world were supposed to be more skilled than this." Another figure said.

"Granted, shinobi are feared for their skills in combat, but you lot are just plain pathetic and cowardly." The first unknown person said again. "Give up now and I'll…Gah…this cloak is getting annoying…"

This last bit confused everyone even more…at least until the newer figures all tore of their cloaks.

"Naruto?!" Ellen asked in surprise.

"You!" Mila said. "THERE ARE MORE OF YOU?!"

"…" Naruto kept quiet, deciding to focus on the person on the other side of his blade.

The truth in Mila's shout was slowly digested by everyone.

"Now…that's better…" Naruto said and the others agreed. They were all wearing a sleeveless dark-green shirt and khaki combat trousers. On his feet were Black Sandals. Strapped to his back was his sword.

"Who are you?" the Serrash Leader (At least Naruto assumed he was) demanded.

"My name and title is Naruto Uzumaki of the Silent Step." All the Narutos introduced themselves and drew their swords. "And as for WHO I am…how about you try and pry that information from me, you Shinobi wannabes?"

This enraged the Serrash assassins.

"Nobody, not even the gods, ever insults those trained as shinobi and lives to tell about it." The one with the shortest chain tattoo shouted in anger. Several others nodded in agreement.

But before they could take the initiative the Naruto and his clones charged and engaged them in a furious Melee, one in which the Serrash assassins quickly found themselves outmatched by their respective Naruto's superior swordsmanship, though they managed to keep their lives by doing what they do second best…playing dirty…

"Ellen…" Mila began, making the white haired female look at the blue one. "Do you have any idea just what is going on?"

Before Ellen could answer, one of the Narutos shouted out.

"I AM UZUMAKI NARUTO, HERO OF THE HIDDEN LEAF, SEEKER OF PEACE…AND I AM A…!" Before Naruto could finish, he was enveloped by a red cloud that immediately began burning his eyes, nostrils and throat.

The memories of his 19 clones flooded into him as they were caught in similar bombs.

" _Futon: Daitopa_ " the real Naruto muttered, sending a wind justu crashing onto the floor, causing an area of high pressure that then blew the pepper-smoke away from him and the area.

The sudden disappearance of 19 of the figures as well as the sudden wind blast around the real Naruto stunned the Serrash Assassins as well as the soldiers and the two Vanadis

"WHAAAA?!" everyone shouted at the sudden development.

"What happened?" Ellen asked.

"You are not the only one with control over wind, Ellen." Naruto told her. "However, the way we use the power of the wind is different."

"Huh?" Ellen asked, confused.

Before anything more could be said, a Serrash assassin charged at Naruto, whose blade suddenly began glowing with a blue aura.

The attacker made the mistake of not paying any attention to it…until it was too late.

Naruto's katana sliced through the man's sword as though it was non-existent and continued on through his neck, sending the head flying.

For a while nobody moved or made a sound.

"They say that a Shinobi is to be feared by his enemies…" Naruto said, the silence allowing his words to reach every pair of ears in the Citadel. "You have absolutely no Idea how true those words are right now."

"What do you mean?" Mila asked.

It was not Naruto who answered, but Ellen. "What he means, Mila, is that that statement applies to him as much as it does for the other shinobi."

"You mean…" Mila turned to her, "…that he is one as well?"

"Yes…and No…" Ellen answered.

Without a word, Naruto attacked the next Serrash shinobi.

"Yes, where he comes from, he was trained to be a Shinobi…but…" Ellen paused as she looked at the devastation Naruto was causing to the Serrash Shinobi.

Thanks to the Wind Chakra enveloping the katana, blocking Naruto's attacks were futile.

"…where he comes from, Shinobi are trained different Ideals and Fighting styles." Ellen finished.

By now Naruto had either killed or wounded the majority of the Serrash assassins.

Mila looked at Ellen with wide eyes. "How do you know all this?"

"Naruto told me shortly after he joined my service." Ellen said. "At first I didn't believe him, but after showing me some of the things he could do, such as him moving very fast and jumping very far, not to mention creating weapons of extremely high quality in less than a tenth of the time it takes a specialized Blacksmith to create one of equal quality…well, it became rather hard to NOT believe it."

"Then what about the wind just now?" Mila asked.

"We may never truly understand him…" Ellen said, looking at Naruto, who had just finished of the last of the Serrash assassins. Sudden movement caught Ellen's attention and she turned just in time to see one of the injured assassins shoot Naruto with a blow pipe.

Ellen's heart stopped beating for a moment as she saw Naruto fall to his knees, one hand reaching back and pulling out the dart.

A noise caught Ellen's attention and she turned just in time to see the wounded assassin aim the blow pipe at her, only to stop when a throwing knife knocked it out of his hands.

"Sorry, but…" Naruto muttered, rising to his feet again as though nothing happened. "…thanks to my upbringing, I have a near immunity to poisons and venoms…"

He turned around, showing that he was completely unaffected by the poison.

The assassin growled and bit down on a fake tooth, ending his life rather than being captured and interrogated.

For a moment there was silence, then…

 _*GROWL*._ Everyone thought there was a Lion inside the Citadel and looked around, only to have a second growl turn their attention to Naruto.

"Man I am hungry…Anyone got any Ramen?" he asked.

Naruto felt the impacts of hundreds of soldiers face-planting through the floor. He just chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

After everyone had calmed down…sortoff…

Mila looked at the Serrash with the arrow in his head and realized something.

"Urs…" she muttered, looking up at Tigre.

 **(The conversation between Mila and Tigre is the same as in Canon)**

"In the matter of the Brunish Civil upheaval, I will no longer assist Duke Tenardier in the slightest bit!" Mila called out to her troops.

Sighs of relief were heard from almost everyone.

Naruto suddenly and silently appeared behind her, holding a small piece of Ice, which he rubbed against her exposed back, starting at the small of her back and moving upward.

Mila screamed out in fright at that while Ellen was laughing.

"You know, as someone who should be immune to the cold, you sure are able to feel a chill crawling up your spine." Naruto said, inciting laughter from both the Leitmeritz and the Olmütz soldiers at the word play.

"So, Naruto…now that your secret is out, what will you do?" Ellen asked, changing the subject.

"Wasn't much of a secret…I am just relieved that I no longer have to hold back anymore." Naruto answered.

"So you really are a _shinobi_?" Mila asked, hostility in her voice at the last word.

Ellen got furious and began drawing her sword but Naruto stopped her.

"Yes, I am a Shinobi, but I wasn't raised to be like the ones you all know and fear." Naruto began speaking. "Yes, the shinobi in my world are trained to assassinate. Yes, we are trained to kill. Yes, we are capable of mass destruction. But most of us follow a strong moral code as well as strong beliefs. I thought Ellen explained all that already."

"Like what?" Mila asked, hostility still in her voice.

"We are Mercenaries by trade, but also soldiers and warriors." Naruto said. " _Those who disobey their orders are scum._ " Naruto began, looking up at the sky and remembering one of the few lessons from Kakashi-sensei that actually managed to remain in his head. " _But those who abandon their comrades are even worse than scum._ "

Mila and Ellen both nodded at his words, feeling much the same way…as did all of the Soldiers nearby.

"I don't blame you if you no longer trust me, but a part of what makes us Shinobi is our ability to deceive our opponents and sometimes even our allies." Naruto looked at Ellen. "The only one until now to know of my former employment is Ellen, who even though knowing about it refused to change and even asked me to keep it a secret…but there is still a lot that even she doesn't know about me." He looked at Mila again. "And I know that your Dragon Gear can alert you of danger. If I were like the Shinobi of this world, do you think I would be able to talk to you like this?"

"You said 'this world'…" Mila said. Naruto nodded. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I am not of this world. I should have died in my home world but I ended up in this world." Naruto said.

"Prove it." the sudden appearance of numerous Narutos shut Mila up.

"Name me a magish…maki…magi-thingy that can create clones of him or herself." Naruto told her. "Or one that can do this." He picked up a few metal pieces and, using Chakra, stuck them to his body as though they were glued on.

"Ellen…" Mila began.

"No, I am not sharing him with you." Ellen all but shouted.

"Who said anything about sharing him?" Mila asked. "I wanted to ask if you could let me…"

Ellen again cut her short and the two started bickering again. Meanwhile Naruto had grabbed Tigre, several Leitmeritz and some Olmütz soldiers and unsealed Ale for the troops and juice for him and Tigre…and together they watched the comedy show that was Ellen and Mila bickering…

POV change, Narrator

As promised Mila publicly declared her neutrality in the Brune Civil Unrest, allowing Ellen, Naruto, Lim, Tigre and the Leitmeritz Forces to return to Brune.

However, Thenardier had anticipated this and was already setting contingency plans in motion.

One of those plans involved a certain knight stationed at the western border of the Kingdom.

 **(Rolands introduction is the same as in the anime [episode 6])**

POV change, normal

Roland was reading a message from the Capital.

"What is it, Roland?" his friend and second in command of the Nevarre Knights, Olivier, asked.

"An order from His Majesty, to put down the insurgent." Roland answered.

"The insurgent? Who does he mean?" Olivier asked.

"The count of Alsace, Tigrevurmud Vorn." Roland said. "We are heading out as soon as the Sachstein invasion has been stopped."

1 month (and a few days) later

Tigre had returned to Brune together with 5,000 knights, intent on doing everything he can to protect his homeland. Hughes Augre allowed Tigre's new army to set up their Headquarters in his territory.

Over the past two weeks the army has grown in size as many minor lords who agreed with Tigre's cause joined them.

Tigre's army HQ Tent

"Okay, Lim, go ahead and say it." Ellen said.

"S-Silver…Meteor...can we not do this?" the Blonde girl asked.

"Titta." Ellen said.

"The Silver Meteor Storm!" the maid said fluently.

"Huh? The Sliver Meter Storm?" Naruto asked, waking up from his snooze, which began as soon as this discussion started…30 minutes ago.

"She said 'The Silver Meteor Storm'!" Lim said.

"There…that wasn't that bad, was it?" Ellen asked, pouncing on the opportunity to tease her friend..

Lim blushed as she realized that she had just doomed any and all complaints she had concerning the name of the newly formed army and sighed in defeat.

Tigre reached over and took Lim's hand in his own. Two weeks ago they had made their relationship official and public and the Soldiers had immediately thrown a party in celebration…Tigre swore he had a skull fracture the next morning…that is how bad his hangover was…well, Lim was not much better. And to make matters worse, Naruto chose that morning to practice making some more 'explosives' as he called them. And to top it off, Naruto managed to drink almost everyone under the table…the only ones who weren't were the ones who got drunk before he joined…and everyone, including Ellen, was both pissed and in awe of him not being able to suffer from a hangover…

Regarding Naruto's relationship with Ellen, nothing much has happened there although Naruto was slowly and surely learning to read his own emotions…  
Additionally, Ellen had all but shouted out to the world that Naruto belonged to her and that he was off the market…though this message was more directed at the female population.  
And afterwards Naruto made the comment that if that were the case, then she would also technically be off the market for the males…Ellen muttered something about having forgotten about that…

Well, many of the Males were silently cursing the blonde for his luck at having a (Quote) 'Smoking Hot Babe' (End Quote) chasing after him whilst most of the single females were veeeeeery Jealous of Ellen for keeping Naruto to herself and not sharing…then again, neither would they…

"Sir Tigrevurmud!" Rurick said as he stood at the entrance of the tent. "Forgive me for interrupting your…important meeting. Um, there's been another dispute."

"Again? What's the reason this time?" Tigre asked. He and Lim got up. She didn't have too, she just wanted to make sure that Tigre stays out of 'trouble' with other women.

"The thing is, I'm not entirely sure." Rurick said.

"We'll be right back." Tigre said as he and Lim followed Rurick.

"Yeah. You're used to this by now, so settle it quickly and come back." Ellen said. Titta quickly ran after the two.

Once they were alone, Ellen walked over to where Naruto was dozing against one of the storage chests and lay down against him.

Naruto's ability of being able to sleep anywhere must have been contagious as when Tigre, Lim, Titta and Rurick returned, they found the two of them sound asleep with Ellen using Naruto as a pillow and Naruto treating her as a Teddy Bear…

"And you say that I sleep a lot…" Tigre muttered, making Titta giggle whilst Lim and Rurick grinned.

"At least he is able to stand up when the sun rises." Lim said.

"When the sun rises or when Ellen brings him his morning pot of Ramen?" Tigre asked, inciting another giggle from Titta.

"You know, seeing Naruto-dono like this, I find it very hard to believe that he is a Shinobi…" Rurick began, "I mean he…"

Rurick stopped talking when one of Naruto's Kunai struck the tent-pole right next to his face.

"Oh…my reflexes must be getting rusty for me to miss the person spewing Bullshit about me…" a semi sleepy Naruto muttered as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. **(1)**

"Did you have to move? I was having such a nice dream…" Ellen whined and sleepily looked around. "Oh, you finished with the problem…What was it anyway?"

 **(1): Naruto was bluffing there, but Rurick didn't need to know that…**

 **Chapter 11**

Sometime later

"The reason for the fight was the shape of a cloud?" Hughes asked whilst holding back his laughter. "Oh, that's funny."

He, Tigre and several others were on their way to a nearby trading Town to purchase supplies and meet up with a few Nobles who wished to speak with Tigre before deciding whether or not to join his cause.

"Brune and Zhcted… We're an army that was thrown together, so that means more bickering." Tigre said.

Rurick asked that Tigre shoot another one of those whistling arrows the next time a dispute happens, saying that the sound was interesting to listen to.

After entering the town

"Saunier is at the centre of the villages of this area." Hughes explained. "Most discussions held between Village Leaders take place here."

"There seem to be a lot of outsiders here as well." Rurick commented.

"I also hope that we can come by even a little information about the capital." Tigre said.

"Then why not ask Naruto to go there?" Rurick asked.

"Do you think Ellen will allow him to go there?" Tigre asked. "We do not know what either Ganelon or Thenardier are up to at the moment…we need him with us."

"I think the greatest problem would be Lady Eleonora." Hughes said. "She is more protective towards Naruto than a mother wolf is towards her newborn pup."

"That doesn't stop him from causing trouble all the time…" Tigre said.

The others agreed with him there.

A few hours later

After Meeting with the Town leadership in regards to purchasing supplies, as well as the half-a-dozen nobles that wanted to meet the Brunish archer, Tigre, Hughes and Rurick stood outside the Town Hall, chatting and watching a blacksmith showing off his portable furnace.

"We finished earlier than I expected." Rurick said. "Things went without a hitch."

"I agree. I half expected Naruto to burst in there and ask for directions to the nearest Ramen stand…good thing he is still back at camp though." Tigre said. "Anyway, I wish we could have gotten information about the capital."

"That's a bit of a shame, huh?" Hughes asked.

"Augre-sama, what are you going to do now?" Rurick asked.

"I'll be heading back to my estate." The old man answered.

"Then I'll see you off." Tigre said.

"What are you talking about, young one?" Hughes asked in mock anger, then added in a much more gentle voice, "This is a rare opportunity. Enjoy yourself before you leave. See?" Hughes indicated numerous shops and bars nearby.

Meanwhile, back at the camp

Naruto was lying on the grass near a small stream, enjoying the sun.

"Ellen told me to take it easy for today…" Naruto muttered, thinking back to the group of soldiers who tried to beat him to a pulp when he tried entering the tent he and Ellen shared.

 _Flashback_

 _"Hey, you there!" a woman called out, pointing at Naruto who was about to enter his tent._

 _"Me?" Naruto asked, turning to the group of 8 soldiers._

 _"Who else, you dumbass." The female said. "That tent belongs to Lady Eleonora and that swordsman, Nauto Usumagi." None of them noticed the small tick-mark appear on Naruto's head._

 _"…How long have you been here?" Naruto asked her, taking a step towards her, flaring his KI slightly._

 _"A few weeks now. We know more about this camp than you, newbie." One of the males said, stepping between Naruto and the female._

 _Out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw several Officers take seats and watch and a crowd was gathering, enclosing them in a wide circle._

 _"I'll have you know that…" Naruto began, but was interrupted by another male, who hefted a club._

 _Naruto saw several soldiers nearby approach whilst drawing their swords, but lifted a hand to tell them to stand down._

 _"Trying to intimidate us with saying who you know will not help you in the slightest." The male with the club said menacingly._

 _The others in his group agreed with him._

 _Another female then spoke up, whilst stepping forward in front of the group._

 _"This is not a place for someone like you to be, newbie." She said._

 _"Says the one whose brain grew in her breasts rather than her head…" Naruto told her, making her furious._

 _"Why don't you just go back to your whore of a mother…" she didn't finish the sentence as she suddenly felt his hand on her throat and her feet dangling in the air. The members of her group took a few steps back in shock…they hadn't seen Naruto move._

 _"Let me tell you something." Naruto growled. "You and your pals here can insult me all you want, but_ _ **NEVER**_ _insult anyone close to me." The female was beginning to have trouble breathing as the grip tightened around her neck._

 _Suddenly Naruto released her._

 _"I'll let you off with a warning for now. Consider yourself…" Naruto was silenced when a fist connected with his face._

 _"Shut up you Son of a Bitch." A man shouted. The next thing he knew he was sent flying into a nearby stack of crates._

 _The female whom Naruto had held by the neck found herself looking wide eyed as he dodged, parried and countered every attack her friends made towards him with considerable ease._

 _"Who are you?" she asked as he finished of the other female with a chop to the back of the neck._

 _"Name's Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto introduced himself. "And tell that to your friends when they wake up if you please."_

 _Flashback end_

The sound of rustling leaves put Naruto on the alert, only to sigh as a baby dragon flew out of the bushes and into him, making them both roll into the water.

"You…you're Ellen's pet Dragon, Lunie…" Naruto said. Another rustling of leaves caught both their attentions and Lunie flew of as though she was running from something.

"Ah! Lunie-chan, don't run away!" a female's voice said.

Naruto turned towards the voice and had just enough time to a) recognize the female as Sofya, b) getting a nosebleed and c) realizing that she was naked, resulting in b).

He was frozen in place as she came running through the river, oblivious to his presence before tripping on a stone and falling onto of him.

Lunie looked on them with a cute deadpan expression.

"Ara, ara…are you alright?" Sofya asked, seeing the blood on his face and him lying underneath her.

"Sofy!" another voice called out.

 _'Oh, Crap!'_ Naruto thought, recognizing the voice as…

"Did you find Lunie?" Ellen asked, stepping out of the bushes. Naruto sighed in relief seeing that she at least wore something…it wasn't much but at least there was something…

"Yes, I did." Sofya called over to her. Ellen turned and froze while a deadly aura slowly began surrounding her body…she saw her friend lying naked on top of Naruto with him having blood on his face and the positions of their bodies were rather…suggestive…

"Look up there." Sofya said, pointing towards the light green baby dragon, who had an even more deadpanned expression than before on its face.

A few hours later

"Pleased to meet you, Sir Tigrevurmud." Sofya said to the pink haired archer, who had just recently returned with the supplies. "I am one of the seven War Maidens, Sofya Obertas. Feel free to call me Sofy." She was sitting on one side of the table and was petting a sleeping Lunie on her lap. Opposite her sat Tigre and Lim, with Titta standing to the side next to a small table with refreshments. Naruto and Ellen sat on one of the sides with Ellen sitting between Naruto and Sofy…because she felt like it…

"Tigrevurmud Vorn. And the pleasure is mine." Tigre returned the greeting. "I must be honest, I didn't expect to see a war maiden with whom Ellen would be able to get along with so well." Tigre half joked.

"Out of those war maidens I have encountered thus far…" Naruto began explaining, "…she is the only one with whom Ellen doesn't share an antagonistic relationship."

"How many have you met so far?" Lim asked.

"Let's see, other than Mila and BB or SO here, there was that Purple Bitch with the oversized Farming tool; the Bitch with the heterochromatic eyes wielding every Sadists favorite toy and finally that young child using that lumbering tool that can grow." Naruto said.

In three other places, all of them in Zhcted

Valentina, Liza and Olga all sneezed at roughly the same time and felt like beating a certain blonde person to pulp for some reason.

Back with the discussion

"That means that I still have one war maiden to meet, I guess." Naruto said.

"What do you mean with 'BB' and 'SO'?" Titta asked. The others in the room all turned to Naruto in agreement.

"Abreviations for Nicknames for her. 'Blonde Bimbo' and 'Seriously Oversized'." Naruto said.

Of course Sofy, being a slight airhead, took both of those Nicknames as a compliment.

Titta meanwhile silently agreed with Naruto on the two nicknames, but wouldn't say that out loud.

"Oh? And what are your nicknames for the rest of us?" Ellen asked, interested. Lim and Titta were beginning to get a bad feeling about this.

"Well, you would probably have been Snowflake." Naruto said with his index finger on his chin as though he was thinking. "Tigre would be Sakura, due to the color of his hair, Titta would be Titty and Lim would be a SW." Naruto finished and barely dodged a Jar of water thrown by Titta due to the nickname he gave her.

"SW?" Lim asked.

"'Snowflake Wannabe'. You dress similar to Ellen don't you?" Naruto asked. "Or would you prefer 'Ever Growing'?"

Lim immediately went atomic…It was bad enough that Ellen constantly teased her about her bust size.

Sofy giggled, knowing what was going on.

"Anyway…" she began, drawing everyone's attention back to her. "…I am here in Brune on official business. His Majesty has grown impatient of Brune's inexcusable conduct, and I have been ordered to come here as his envoy."

"Lady Sofya, might we ask you what sort of response you received from the royal palace?" Lim asked.

"To come right to the point, it wasn't a very favorable one." Sofya answered.

"What do you mean?" Lim asked.

"The King of Brune has been taken with illness, and I was not granted an audience." Sofya said. "All I could do was convey our position."

"Your position?" Tigre and Naruto asked.

"You asserted that I had only been hired by Tigre, and that the kingdom of Zhcted was not at all involved?" Ellen asked.

"Yes. Also, I was asked to deliver a message to Sir Tigrevurmud through you, Ellen." Sofya said, her voice turning grave.

"To me?" Tigre asked.

 _"We accuse Count Vorn of the crime of treason, and strip him of all power as a count and a Brunish nobleman._

 _Alsace will be treated provisionally as being under His Majesty's control, left briefly to govern themselves, and once this turmoil has abated, a magistrate will be dispatched from the royal capital."_

Tigre, Lim and Titta stared at her.

"Treason?" Tigre asked.

"Sir Tigrevurmud, in time, I believe that a messenger will be sent from the palace to you personally, but perhaps you should ask Sir Mashas for more details, rather than myself." Sofya said.

"Sir Mashas?" Tigre asked.

"You know Sir Mashas?" Lim added her question.

"I came to know him in the Captial, Nice." Sofya began explaining. "He said he had to return to his own territory first, so he sent me on ahead alone."

"Thank goodness! Then Lord Mashas is all right!" Titta said happily.

The happiness turned to confusion when Tigre stood up, excused himself and left the tent. Moments later Lim and Titta followed suit.

"I don't like it…" Everyone still present was snapped out of their current thoughts by Naruto's plain statement.

"It sounds to me as though something far greater than just a simple struggle is going on here." Naruto clarified. "First Brune invades Zhcted, an invasion where neither Thenardier nor Gunalong take part in even though it is their duty to do so, resulting in the death of the Heir of Brune as well as the loss of a major part of Brune's military prowess. Then one of them sends a army against a small and insignificant province that has little to no strategically advantageous value in the broader war theatre. Now we learn that the Brune Monarch has suddenly fallen Ill and Tigre, someone I respect for his loyalty and dedication to those he cares about, gets accused of treason. This is all too much of a coincidence if you ask me." Naruto turned to Ellen and Sofya. "I may just be over thinking things, but I think that either Thenadier or Gunalong are secretly pulling the strings and leading this country to civil war."

"Why would either of them want to destroy the country?" Ellen asked.

"From what I heard about Thenardier, he is a proud and powerful warrior and leads the strongest military currently in Brune. He may resort to scorched earth tactics should either Gunalong or Tigre turn out to be the Victor." Naruto explained.

"And Ganelon?" Sofya asked.

"Is that how one pronounces the name?" Naruto asked. "Anyway, I haven't heard much about him other than he is the secretive type. Thus I cannot as off yet make a estimation about what he may do. Though If I were to hazard a guess, he may just try to escape and then return with a foreign army to conquer Brune."

For a moment Sofya and Ellen just looked at him.

"While I have to agree with some of the things you said, I think you may be over thinking things a bit." Sofya said with Ellen nodding.

"Well, I will leave the two of you to catch up on old times." Naruto said. "See you later, Ellen-chan."

"Yeah. See you later." Ellen returned.

Whilst Ellen and Sofya talked about the locations of the other Vanadis, Naruto walked around camp, trying and failing to walk in a way that people don't shit their pants when they realize he is right behind them.

Eventually he found what he was looking for…or rather, whom…

Tigre was sitting on a hill just outside the camp with a sharpening stone and a quiver of arrows. With him was Lim and Titta, both of whom were trying, unsuccessfully, to calm the archer down.

Naruto walked up to Titta, making her almost jump out of her maid outfit, and motioned her to follow him.

"Titta-san, I know Tigre-san is feeling down at the moment…" Naruto began, but was cut off by the young maid.

"You don't know anything about how it feels like to be branded a traitor!" She hissed.

"Well, I know how it feels like to be called a Monster for most of my life." Naruto told her, making her eyes widen. "There is also a time when I was sent to prison for a crime I didn't commit…" Naruto gave her a brief and Naruto style explanation about the Blood-Prison.

"Someone framed me and I was sent to the highest security prison in my home world. I found out that the director framed me for the power I hold and then kicked his ass, after he released a monster into the world…whose ass I also kicked."

Titta was half confused now.

"My actions redeemed me to my friends." It was actually a lie, but Titta didn't need to know that.

"If you truly want to help Tigre-san, give him this word of advice. They label you a traitor…prove them wrong!" Naruto delivered his message to Titta, whose eyes widened in realization…

This blonde shinobi, who at times is more like the biggest idiot in existence, is trying to help her by giving her the advice that may just snap Tigre out of his depression.

Naruto may be the most unpredictable Idiot…ahm…Shinobi, but that doesn't mean he could prepare for everything.

…things like Titta suddenly hugging him and repeating "Thank you." over and over again.

Once she let him go Titta bowed to him, gave him a head ache with one last 'Thank you' and then ran up the hill towards Tigre and Lim.

Naruto didn't hear their conversation as he went to search for some food of the Gods…Ramen…

In the Camp's mess

The cooks in the camp suddenly felt a shiver run up their spines and they all had the feeling that they should bring out the Ramen they set aside for a certain…Ramen-eating-monster…

With Ellen and Sofya, several minutes earlier

"So, how are the other war maidens?" Ellen asked after Naruto exited the tent. Sofya had stood up and passed Lunie over to Ellen for another round of TLC (Tender Loving Care).

"Mila is…you know, don't you?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah." Ellen answered.

"Elizaveta maintains conventional ties with both Duke Tenadier and Duke Ganelon. Valentina's principality is far removed from Brune. She should be fine for now. Olga is currently gathering her forces, her reason is currently unknown." Sofya continued.

"Unknown?" Ellen asked.

"Ever since she lost to Naruto in an official fight, she has been acting strangely, though I don't know what her plans are at the moment." Sofya clarified. "Sasha probably is ill as always. At the present it is safe to say that most of the other war maidens won't take any actions, the way Mila did." Sofya turned grim. "More importantly, I'm concerned about how the country will act with regard to Sir Tigrevurmud, now that he's been branded a traitor."

"The country?" Ellen asked, inhaling as she did.

"Yes. For example, regiments that serves directly under the king." Sofya said.

A few days later

Sofya's word almost turned into an prophesy as soon Bertrand walked into a war council between Ellen, Lim, Naruto, Tigre and Hughes.

"Right now, the Order of Navarre is approaching us. The captain of this, Roland, bears the title 'Black Knight', and is said to be the greatest knight in all of Brune." Tigre's old aide said.

"Roland?" Naruto asked. "Never heard of him…"

"Even I have heard the name of Roland." Tigre said, completely ignoring the blonde swordsman/shinobi

"Ho, if even Backwoods Tigre has heard the name of this man…" Ellen began in a voice that made it difficult to discern teasing from complimenting.

"Ever since Roland became a knight at 13, he has been undefeated." Hughes said.

 _'13, eh? That age brings back memories…'_ Naruto thought.

"When he was first assigned to the Order of Navarre, the king even bestowed upon him the national treasure of Durandal." Hughes continued.

"But then, royal knights swear their allegiance to His Majesty. They will only take orders from His Majesty." Tigre said.

"Mm-hmm…I will at least try sending a messenger for now." Hughes said.

Another few days later

The message from Hughes did little to change the minds of the Order of Navarre.

"Our enemy was supposed to be Duke Thenardier or Duke Ganelon." One of the war-veteran-nobleman still loyal to Tigre said. "Why is a knightly order coming at us with swords drawn?"

"I don't care how closely they're wrking with us, there is no call for deferring to a foreign army, and not be spilling blood with fellow Brunemen." Another noble said.

"In other words, you's rather rely on the Order of Navarre, instead of the Zhcted army?" Hughes asked.

"The inhumanity of Duke Thenarider and the lawlessness of Duke Ganelon did not start just yesterday!" Tigre stood up, anger in his voice. "Has any order of knights denounced them, and set them straight?!"

"Well, that's because knightly orders act under orders of the king." The third noble said.

"We will fight! All of us! For our own sakes!" Tigre delivered his ultimatum…for the upcoming battle.

"You are absolutely correct. That is why we are here now, turning not to knights, but to the army of Zhcted." Hughes words helped convince the remaining nobles to remain on Tigre's side.

The next day

The Siler Meteor Army took up positions in the centre of the Orange Plains. Facing them, the Order of Navarre took up a spear wall formation.

"Exterminate the enemies of the crown!" Roland shouted, drawing Druandal. Spurring his horse to a gallop, he shouted, "Follow after my sword!"

With roars the knightly order followed him and upon engaging the SMA he proved once again just why he was called the strongest knight in Brune…even though Durandal was almost a alsin in width and as at least 5 alsins long, Roland wielded it as though it were as light as a rapier.

Seeing the devastation that the black armored knight was causing, Ellen shouted, "Lim, you've got command!"

She then galloped straight for Roland, who saw her coming. She managed to block the first blow from him but was pushed back due to the momentum.

"It's been a long time since anyone withstood my sword." Roland praised her. "What is your name?"

"I am one of the seven war maidens, Eleonora Viltaria!" Ellen introduced herself.

 _'In all of Sachstein, and all of Asvarre, there was not a single soldier or knight such as this.'_ Roland thought. _'Could it be that a girl like her…'_

"I am Roland, captain of the Order of Navarre." Roland introduced himself. "War maiden, I don't know what your reasons are, I will not allow anyone to enter the land of Brune without the permission of His Majesty!"

After slaughtering a few knights who tried coming to Ellens aid, Ellen and Roland engaged once more, with Ellen being driven back due to Roland's powerful and Rapid attacks, and eventually having to fall of her horse just to prevent being turned to mincemeat. She was contemplating using her Dragon Arts against Roland when the still mounted knight's senses warned him of Danger behind him.

Naruto slashed downwards with his Katana and 'tsk'ed ' when Roland managed to bring his sword around to block him.

Improvising, Naruto kicked of Roland, hard, sending the Black knight tumbling to the floor whilst Naruto landed a short distance away.

With a shout, Roland charged at Naruto and the two engaged in a furious melee, though like Ellen, Naruto was being driven back due to the power behind Roland's attacks…though he managed to get a few attacks in as well.

Ellen watched in awe as Naruto seemingly held his own against Roland on even ground.

The sound of a galloping horse brought her back to reality as she saw her own horse galloping towards her. Jumping on, she turned her attention back to the duel…and immediately galloped in, dismay clear on her face.

Moments earlier

The fight between Roland and Naruto became more of a stalemate as Naruto began getting accustomed to Roland's attack pattern, though he had to admit, Roland had an Iron defense…and power that would make Granny Tsunade and Sakura proud.

 _'This guy…his swordsmanship is even better than that Eleonora chick's…'_ Roland thought. _'His skill at blocking and counterattacking is far greater than my own, but his attacks lack strength…In that case…'_

Roland grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands and delivered powerful downward chop at Naruto, who decided to block the blow…only for his sword to shatter.

In the moment of shock, Roland delivered a diagonal strike on Naruto, cutting/tearing through the bones of his ribcage and lightly damaging the organs in his lower torso.

Before Roland could land the finishing blow, his senses screamed once more and he jumped back just in time to avoid an arrow. He looked to where the arrow came from and saw a pink haired archer and a blonde female in light blue armor riding towards him, another arrow already at the ready. Behind him he heard another horse and turned only to see Eleonora reaching down and grabbing the downed Naruto from the ground and throwing him over the saddle in front of her.

Meanwhile Tigre was still charging towards Roland ready let loose another arrow from close range…

However, before he could fire, Roland surprised him by striking out at him, slicing through the neck of his horse and continuing on to deliver a critical cut just below Tigre's ribcage…and as he was falling, Tigre released the arrow almost straight up into the air.

"TIGRE!" the blonde shouted as she grabbed the still falling archer and just like Ellen had done, threw him over the saddle. Roland watched both horses ride away, stopping momentarily on top of a Hill to reposition the two wounded riders, seating them before the unwounded ones.

Whistling, Roland called over his horse and jumped on. Despite his heavy armor, he managed to gain ground on the pair of horses, only for an arrow to suddenly fall from above and strike his horse right where the skull connected to the spine.

In surprise, Roland fell to the ground for the second time that day. Looking at the arrow, Roland recognized it as the one that the archer shot up into the sky.

 _'That wasn't a missed shot…'_ he thought. _'Just who is that archer…'_

Roland paused for a moment, debating what he'd do next, then turned and marched back to his camp…

There was no way he could catch up to two horses whilst on foot.

"Captain Roland!" a rider galloped up to him. "We have spotted around 300 heavy cavalry towards out flank."

"Have our forces pull back. Send word to the enemy leaders. This battle shall be continued tomorrow." Roland said. "And see if you can find me a riderless horse please…"

Roland's message of a temporary cease-fire was accepted by the leaders of the SMA as well as Mashas Rodant, leader of the 300 heavy cavalry who arrived to assist Tigre.

Neither side had the strength left to continue fighting in any case…

Roland meanwhile was thinking back to the time he tried to meet the king for further orders…

 _Flashback_

 _"So then, I cannot get an audience with His Majety?" Roland asked Ganelon and Thenardier, both of whom were standing before him, Thenardier on the same level as Roland to show his respect to the powerful knight, whilst Ganelon, being the coward he is, stood on top of the small staircase._

 _"Sir Roland, His Majesty is ill. Please understand." Ganelon said._

 _"It is hard on us, too." Thenardier said._

 _"In order to soothe His Majesty's heart, we would appreciate it if you could eradicate former Count Vorn and the army from Zhcted that is now running amok in Brune." Ganelon said._

 _"I will send my 2nd Division as well as the 5th Cavalry under my command to guard the borders to Sachstein and Asvarre in your absence._ _ **(1)**_ _" Thenardier said. Roland looked up at that._

 _'He is sending his best Soldiers to guard the Border?' Roland thought, getting an uncomfortable feeling from this._

 _"Why are you not sending those troops to deal with the former Count?" Roland asked._

 _"The area where Vorn currently is in lies between both of our own domains, and with the rising tensions between our own forces, any military act close to the other's border will likely bring this Nation into Civil War. The Knightly Orders in the North are currently preoccupied with a pirate menace." Thenardier explained._

 _Roland hid his doubt well, though he could not deny the truth in Thenardier's words. The only neutral place between those two for decades has been only the capitol city of Nice and the northern Knightly Orders were indeed preparing for a major Pirate attack._

 _Flashback end_

"I still do not trust those two…I had better finish this battle with all due haste, and go see His Majesty." Roland said to himself.

That evening, SMA camp

The mood in the camp was slightly depressed as word that not one, but TWO of their strongest people were either critically of fatally injured.

The one who was fatally injured, Naruto, managed to wake up as he was being treated and managed to give a message that the medics sent to the troops.

"If I find out you lose this battle just because you feel disheartened by my injury, I will find you in Heaven and/or Hell and prank them so hard that you will remember it in your next life." Naruto had said.

Many had laughed at that…the most severely injured person in the army telling jokes to lift their spirits…and it did work.

What nobody really knew was that Naruto had a strong constitution and was a fast healer…he'd be up and pulling pranks on them before…what's that they would be saying? Oh yeah… "Too soon!"

Meanwhile, Mashas, Ellen and Lim were in the Command tent.

"Thank you, Sir Mashas. Because of you, the enemy called for a cease fire for the night." Ellen thanked the old man.

"Never mind that…How is Tigre and that Naruto Brat doing?" Mashas asked.

Ellen and Lim turned somber.

"It's serious. Tigre has a light fever but is resting peacefully." Lim said.

"Naruto is a different issue. His body is burning up, the skin hot to the touch near his injury. Also, we had to tie him down in order for him not to thrash around." Ellen said. "There is something else though…"

"Hmm?" Mashas and Lim turned to her.

"During his fight with Roland he managed to fight on par with Roland for a while." Ellen's words shocked the old man. "Yet I can't shake this feeling that something was holding him back from fighting to his fullest potential…"

With Tigre

Titta was kneeling next to the sleeping form of Tigre, holding onto his hand as though praying to the archer to get better soon.

With Naruto

Naruto had calmed down, much to the relief of the medics, yet his fever refused to break…but it was a start…

Back at the command tent

"Pardon my abruptness, Mashas, but tell us what happened in the capital." Hughes said.

"I did not get an audience with the king, and as a last resort, I barged into the palace." Mashas began telling them.

He told them about what Thenardier and Ganelon had done to the place and how his old friend, Badouin, helped out.

Everyone was shocked when Mashas told them that the King's spirit had been completely broken and that he was playing with wood blocks…and the reason for the odd behavior…

"How pitiful. The grief of losing the prince?" Hughes said.

"Only a few people, starting with Badouin, know about His Majesty." Mashas told them.

"However, Ganelon and Thenardier are probably aware." Ellen said.

"And whatever the circumstances may be, Tigre needs a very good reason, a just cause, for bringing in foreign soldiers." Mashas said. "That is what Badouin told me."

"So if there is no treacherous intent, he may gain His Majesty's forgiveness." Hughes said. "I don't suppose there's any way he could receive such a statement."

"Which is exactly why Roland is acting to strike against him without just cause." Mashas said. "Thenardier and Ganelon put him up to it."

For a moment nobody said anything.

 **(How Mashas met Sofya is canon)**

 **(1): The discussion in the anime was lacking in material for me, so I fleshed it out a bit…**

 **Chapter 12**

"Yeah, he's alright." Bertrand told a few soldiers who wanted to know how Tigre was faring. "Don't worry, he should regain consciousness tomorrow."

"Who were those men?" Ellen asked.

"Some soldiers who were concerned about the Young Lord were asking about him." Bertrand answered.

"From Alsace?" Lim asked.

"No, they were men that Viscount Augre brought with him." Bertrand told them. "Apparently one of them heard that the enemy's leader had landed a blow against the Young Lord."

"I see…anyone asking about Naruto?" Ellen asked.

"Several people have come to pay their respect to him. That or they wished to tell him that they would do their best tomorrow and in the case that we lost, he should not go and seek them out in the afterlife as a pranking target…" Bertrand said, chuckling a bit at the last bit.

Ellen and Lim smiled.

"But the majority of those who come here wanted an update on the Young Lord." Bertrand said.

Inside the tent

Titta looked up as Lim moved the flap aside to enter the compartment of the tent where Tigre was.

"May I have a moment?" she asked. "I just want a minute with him. There is something I want to tell him."

"Very well…" Titta said in a tone-dead voice…after hesitating for a bit.

Once the maid was outside, Lim walked up to Tigre and took his hand in hers.

"Tigre…you are asleep, so you probably can't hear me, so please hear my words through your heart and my heartbeat through your hand." Lim said, holding his hand where her heart is.

"Please return to the land of consciousness soon…Titta needs you…your army needs you…your home needs you…I need you…" Lim felt her heart beat faster and harder and tears slowly gathered in her eyes.

"Please…use my love for you to get better soon…" Lim whispered as she silently cried into his hand, which she now held to her face.

With Naruto

"Will you give us a minute in private?" Ellen asked the medic.

"Of course." She said, getting up to leave the two of them alone.

Ellen Kneeled next to Naruto, also holding his hand. First she looked at his bandaged torso and thought that the bandages must have been changed very recently as there was rather little blood in them for a wound less than a few hours old of that severity.

"Naruto, if you can hear me, please listen to my voice and my heart." Ellen said. "I would like to thank you for coming to help me in the battle, but from my heart I wish that you hadn't…" tears started flowing down her face.

"I know that you are strong enough to survive a wound like this, but please…fight to live…fight for your friends…fight, that I may continue to love someone and not lose the will to live…again…" Ellen was crying silently now.

Elsewhere

Naruto was standing before a large cage that appeared as though it had been blasted open.

"Where am I?" he asked. It didn't appear like his mindscape, which looked like a sewer of sorts. Instead he was standing amongst ruins he had never seen before, though he recognized the Uzumaki swirl here and there. "Am I dreaming?"

"Yes and No…" Naruto turned to see a blond man with a white cloak with red flames at the bottom.

"Your physical body is unconscious…" the man continued, then the red haired female next to him spoke up.

"But you are now in your mindscape…" she said. "…Sochi…"

"Father…and…" Naruto looked at her for a moment before crossing his arms and tilting his head. "Uhm…Who are you?"

The female sighed. "Did you not tell him about me?" she asked the man.

"I had limited time back then and the seal was about to be fully released." He said.

"Oh well…Naruto…" she said, turning to Naruto.

"Yes, Tomato-head?" Naruto asked. Immediately his father took a few steps away from the female.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING TOMATO-HEAD?" she growled as her eyes began glowing white and her hair floated behind her in 9 groups, reminding Naruto of the Kyuubi…and the KI was definitely enough to make the Biju back down…

"Are you perhaps the remnants of the Kyuubi in human form?" Naruto asked, hiding behind a nearby set of ruins.

"ANSWER MY FUCKING QUESTION!" she growled and began walking up to him.

"What do you have against Tomatoes?" Naruto asked, shivering. "They are pretty tasty, but they make excellent material to play pranks with…" Naruto began running as the female smashed a nearby wall as though it were made from origami paper blocks.

"Naruto…calling your mother anything related to a tomato is a death-wish." The man shouted over.

"SHUT UP, MINATO. SON OR NOT, THIS ONE NEEDS A LESSON IN THINKING BEFORE SPEAKING!" the female, now known as being Naruto's mother, continued advancing on Naruto. "I HAVE GOT 16 YEARS WORTH OF DISCIPLINARY TRAINING TO IMPOSE ON HIM!"

"Kushina…please don't…" Minato said. Kushina gave him a 'Don't you fucking dare' stare, but when she turned back to where Naruto used to be, she found that he had disappeared.

"YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME!" Kushina shouted as chains sprouted from her back, heading to where she sensed Naruto hiding.

Naruto turned pale when he realized that he was caught.

16-years-of-a-mother's-Disciplinary-action-against-a-son-compressed-into-16-minutes later

Naruto thought he was going to die…he had not yet caught on that the female was his mother and if he had, he would have full heartedly agreed with Kiba and Shikamaru…Mothers are scary…

Somewhere else

Kiba and Shikamaru shivered violently.

"What is wrong?" Temari asked the two.  
"Troublesome." Shikamaru said. "Hell must be freezing over."

"Did you also have the feeling that Naruto actually agreed with us on something?" Kiba asked.

Back with Naruto

One long-ass explanation later

Naruto was crying now, though whether it was from the beatings his mother had given him or from happiness at meeting both his parents was up for debate.

Kushina and Minato told him about their lives and what had happened on October 10th, 16 years ago.

Naruto in turn then told them about his life…and the only reason why his mother didn't throw another tantrum was because he told her that he had paid those responsible for his hardships back double in pranks.

She all but squealed when Naruto told them about Ellen, when suddenly a window appeared to their side, showing Ellen kneeling beside him, holding his hand to her heart and with tears in her eyes.

 _"Naruto, if you can hear me, please listen to my voice and my heart."_ Ellen said _. "I would like to thank you for coming to help me in the battle, but from my heart I wish that you hadn't…"_ they saw the tears start flowing down her face.

 _"I know that you are strong enough to survive a wound like this, but please…fight to live…fight for your friends…fight, that I may continue to love someone and not lose the will to live…again…"_ Ellen was crying silently now, though those watching could still hear her.

Minato whistled.

"Anata…he really is your son…getting the best woman there is…" Kushina said with a smile whilst ruffling Naruto's hair.

"Pity he doesn't have your hair though." Minato said.

"Oh…now that he has met us, we can change that…" Kushina said, still ruffling Naruto's hair…which Naruto was getting annoyed of…

"Besides that…why are you here?" Naruto asked.

The two of them explained that when the Kyuubi was extracted from him, the Shinigami took pity on him and released Minato's soul from the seal and took Kushina's soul from the afterlife as well as moving his own soul which was barely clinging to his body back in.

"Huh?" Naruto said, having gotten lost at around the 10th word.

"Basically we were brought back to life inside you, taking the place that the Kyuubi would have taken." Minato said.

They would have continued chatting had Naruto not started fading.

"…This world is much better for him than Konoha was…" Kushina said. "It has had a clear effect on his mindscape, don't you agree?"

Minato nodded.

Meanwhile, back in the world of the living

Ellen and Sofya were standing on a hill overlooking the camp.

"The wind is picking up, huh?" Sofya asked. "I wonder if it is going to rain."

"It sure looks like it." Ellen said.

A moment of silence passed between them.

"Are you planning on using your dragon art against a mortal human?" Sofya asked.

"I am." Ellen said.

Sofya smiled. "I'll give you a hand with that." She said.

"Sofy! You're here as an envoy! You can't do that, can you?" Ellen asked, surprise clear in her voice.

"Your determination seems to be contagious." Sofya answered. "My interest in Both Sir Tigrevurmud and Naruto-san has been sparked quite deeply."

"Hey, now…" Ellen began. "If you want Tigre, talk to Lim. And you can't have Naruto…he's mine!"

Both women began laughing at that, though Sofya may or may not have taken Ellen's words seriously…

At the Order of Nevarre's command tent

"No, although he has territory near the border, apparently there has been no association with Zhcted up to then." Olivier told Roland, who had asked if Tigre had had previous contact with Zhcted.

"I doubt such a man would suddenly develop any ambitions." Roland commented.

"About that…" Olivier told him. "I heard that Duke Thenardier has dispatched a force to Alsace in Count Vorn's absence."

"Are you certain about that?" Roland asked, surprised at that bit of news.

"Close to all my sources have said the same thing." Olivier said. "What do we do, Roland?"

After a while of thinking, Roland responded. "We proceed as planned."

"Are you sure about that?" Olivier asked.

"There is a Zhcted army within our borders. For me, that's enough." Roland said.

 _'Tigrevurmud Vorn…just what kind of person are you?'_ he thought.

"Oh…what can you tell me about that swordsman I faced?" Roland asked.

"To be honest, all that I could get from our agent in the enemy camp was that he is a mercenary working solely for the Vanadis of Wind, Eleonora Viltaria. His full name is Naruto Uzumaki, if I read the report correctly. He apparently threatened the Zhcted King when he tried ordering this Naruto person, stating that he will only take orders from Lady Eleonora. And apparently those two are the next best thing to a relationship at the moment." Olivier told him.

"That is not much to go on." Roland said.

"Apparently he appeared in Leitmeritz around the same time as the Battle at Dinant, working as a freelance mercenary." Olivier pulled out a piece of paper as though to check something. "Apparently he comes from a very distant land where men and women are trained from a very young age to move stealthily, but also to be great and powerful warriors. Added to that, Naruto had shown moments where he could move at extreme speeds." Olifier looked at Roland. "And that is pretty much everything I managed to discover about him."

"So he is a unknown…" Roland said. "Too bad I had to land a fatal wound upon him…I would have liked to fight him again."

"Is that respect I am hearing?" Olivier asked.

"He is the only one I know of who was able to successfully hold his own against me and Durandal…I must say though, that sword of his was very impressive." Roland said.

Next morning

 **(Tigre's meeting with Tir na Fa [the goddess of death and darkness] is the same as in the anime…)**

The SMA moved out just before dawn and took up positions on the other side of a large river, leaving the wounded behind at their camp.

On the other side of the valley the Order of Navarre took a three layered crescent formation.

The individual groups would attack from several directions at different times, hitting the SMA where they were not on the defense.

A strong strategy on paper and in word, a good plan…

With a roar the first group of Nevarre knights charged while the second and third moved into their respective positions.

But every plan had a weakness…especially if the opposition had the chance to study this commonly used one and found a way to prevent it from happening in the first place…

The first group had barely reached the bottom of the Valley when the riders were thrown of their saddles and into the deep quagmire that the ground had suddenly become.

The weakness in the plan was that if the horses' footings were taken away, the plan would fall apart.

In this case, it was stacking sandbags to divert the river, flooding the valley with water.

Arrows and rocks flew amongst them, shot from bows or slings used by the SMA soldiers.

Meanwhile Ellen caused a bit of mayhem in the Nevarre formation's flank, drawing Roland out to chase her…which he obliged to do. Meanwhile, Tigre had somehow managed to acquire a horse from somewhere and was galloping towards the battlefield, ignoring the waves of pain from his wound.

Back at Camp

The nurse walked into the tent with a fresh bundle of bandages…and immediately ran out screaming, putting the soldiers still at camp on high alert…especially when they finally managed to calm her down enough for her to explain what had happened.

Soon the entire camp was in chaos…as everyone looked for Naruto…who had disappeared, leaving behind the torn and bloody bandages that had been on him.

They all had the correct Idea of searching for him…just…he wasn't in the camp…

With Ellen, Sofya and Roland

 **(The Battle between Ellen, Sofy and Roland is as in the Anime and his questions to Tigre as well)**

Tigre shot his Light and Wind empowered Dark arrow **(1)** towards Roland, who instead of striking it head on chose to deflect it, sending it flying into a nearby hill…which it obliterated.

"That was a powerful shot, I'll grant you that, however…" Roland began approaching the trio.

Tigre's wound had opened and he was barely staying conscious.

"You know…" a new voice began speaking behind Roland, making him and the trio jump in fright, "I am glad that some of my abilities are not known, such as my heightened healing factor." The figure turned out to be Naruto, and he was holding a pair of short swords that appeared similar in appearance to his (now broken) sword.

"Because otherwise you would have noticed me approaching." With that Naruto attacked.

And Roland almost immediately found himself at a disadvantage. He never bothered to learn the counters to opponents dual wielding as it is a very rare skill…he had never heard from anyone using it outside of the circus…and those guys just did it for show…

"I never fought a dual sword wielder before." Roland said.

"I am not a fan of using this style…" Naruto told him. It reminds me too much of the darker aspect of my training."

"Darker aspect…?" Roland asked.

As if in answer, Naruto attacked him in a furious combination that soon had Roland's armor demolished…and not to mention the wounds.

"Killing disarmed opponents." Naruto muttered.

Roland then saw the numerous beads of sweat on Naruto's forehead.

"How about this…As a fellow warrior, I will show you one of my strongest techniques…rather, one of the strongest techniques I have that is mainly for use on single enemies?" Naruto suggested.

"Very well." Roland said, getting ready for the final clash.

He saw Naruto sheath both his swords…and hold out his right hand?

"I am glad that I practiced doing this after arriving here." Naruto muttered, more to himself than for those listening in.

A small glowing speck appeared about 4 cm above his hand, which then grew into a glowing orb roughly twice that in diameter. Another orb appeared in Naruto's left hand.

Before anyone could ask what that was, Naruto began moving forward, slowly at first, but accelerating, eventually sprinting.

Roland prepared himself to engage Naruto, who was using an unknown weapon that he has never seen before…neither had anyone else in that world.

When Naruto was about 6 alsins away, Roland struck out. Naruto dodged the attack by the width of an inch, but managed to get in Roland's defense.

" _Rasenrangan_ " he shouted as he slammed both orbs into Roland's chest, shattering the remaining armor there and sending him flying with an explosion.

After the explosion abated, Naruto fell to his knees and clutched the area where his wound had been. On the other side of the crater was Roland, also on his knees.

"Naruto!" Ellen shouted as she ran over to her kneeling love interest.

Roland staggered to his feet.

"How…can he…stand…after taking…two Rasengans…at once…" Naruto stammered, feeling pain at every breath…he probably shouldn't have released the resistance seals he had asked his late Godfather to make for him…

 _'Crap, why did I not let my body heal fully again?'_ Naruto thought to himself.

Suddenly Roland fell back to his knees, his hands barely managing to hold onto Durandal.

"I am beaten." He said. "I can't…raise my arms…"

 _'I was unable to shake of my own doubt at the end…As I am now, I cannot win.'_ He thought.

"I surrender." He told the 4 people on the other side of the crater.

Letting out sighs of relief, both Tigre and Naruto let their consciousness slip away from them.

With Roland's surrender, the battle came to an end, though it was a costly victory for the SMA…

The Order of Navarre lost nearly half their soldiers in the second battle…so did the SMA…

And for the second time in two days, two of the strongest members of the Silver Meteor Army fell unconscious due to injuries…

 **(1) Give me a better name for the magically empowered arrow…**

 **And done!**

 **Me:** So, Naruto, how was it to finally face someone of your caliber?

 **Naruto:** You should have given me one earlier…I think I am getting rusty…

 **Me:** Name me someone who would have given you a good fight then.

 **Naruto:** …Is that a trick question?

 **Me:** Nope.

 **Naruto:** I…just don't know…

 **Me:** Not eating Ramen for a week?

 **Naruto:** That is not an enemy…that is torture…

 **Me:** Leave a review if you want Naruto to get his weekly Ramen.


	5. Chapter 13 - Chapter 15

**Welcome back. If you read this far, then I must be writing my story properly…that is good. I'll try to keep the standards up.**

 **I also forgot to add titles to Chapters 11 and 12, so, here they are:**

 **Chapter 11: Trials and Errors**

 **Chapter 12: Of Family and Acceptance**

 **Answers/Comments to Reviews:**

 **Alex2909:** Well, I did say that the Shinigami gave him two souls before coming to the new world…Why not make it his parents?

 **wolf191000:** Glad you like it. I was at first a bit skeptical about the fight between Naruto and Roland due to someone's PM to me (Who shall remain anonymous), but the response afterwards has been positive since. As for Olga…I answered that in my PM to you, didn't I?

 **Shadow-Mind-Comics:** Glad you like it.

 **...Judging by how few people have left reviews, only those names mentioned above want Naruto to have some Ramen…poor guy…**

 **Now onto the story…**

 **Chapter 13: Return and Mysteries**

Ellen sat next to the still unconscious figure of the Blonde Shinobi…and to say she was worried would be an understatement.

It has been two days since the second battle of the Orange Plains…two days since Naruto once again fell unconscious.

Tigre was well on the way of recovery, though when he regained consciousness the morning after the battle, Lim gave him an earful due to his recklessness.

Naruto on the other hand was a completely different story…

Physically he was already completely healed, at least that is what the medics are all saying, yet he hasn't moved a muscle, not even when he had a thin needle shoved between his finger and finger nail.

What is even more baffling was that Naruto's body functions, his heart rate and his breathing had slowed down to a point where one could think that he was dead if one didn't play close attention.

"…Naruto…" Ellen muttered his name for the 17th time in the last 20 minutes…not counting the ones before…

At the same time, Naruto's mindscape

"385!" Kushina said.

"385 what?" Naruto asked, Minato nodding.

"Your girlfriend just muttered your name for the 385th time today." Kushina answered.

"Technically, she isn't my girlfriend." Naruto told her.

"…but she sees you as her Boyfriend…so technically you are…" Kushina said.

"241!" Minato said.

"Huh?!" Naruto and his mother both turned to him.

"You had that conversation for the 241st time now." He said.

Kushina and Minato then turned and looked at Naruto.

"What?" Was the only thing Naruto could think of at the moment.

His mental buffer was still trying to process the information his parents were feeding him whilst his mental processor was busy running a mental defrag on his memories to ensure that he remembers all of this stuff…or most of it at least…

3 mental days (actually 3 minutes in real life) later

Naruto's brain was at its breaking point…but he was glad because his parents had finally managed to give him the knowledge of their combined Fuinjutsu skills.

They had given up on trying teaching him their respective signature Ninjutsu (Kushina's chakra chains and the Minato's Hiraishin), but thanks to hundreds of clones, Kushina managed to refine Naruto's swordsmanship even more whilst also fixing most of Naruto's Taijutsu flaws…more often than not leaving Naruto's mental Avatar in a worse state than his physical body after the first fight with Roland…

Naruto had once more been reminded…about why mothers are scary…

Minato meanwhile had…kidnapped…several of Naruto's clones and had taught the clones (or at least tried to) intermediate to advanced chakra control techniques…as well as trying to increase the number of elements they could use…

3 mental minutes into the training, Minato was forced to use a low rank fuinjutsu that kept the clone awake and focused, thought he drawbacks were that when used on someone like Naruto…well, he had to constantly reapply the seal because the clones constantly overpowered the seals…

Eventually Minato had had to use a medium to high rank seal…

And now that they had finished with their training…

"It's time for round 2!" Kushina said with a very Anko like smile…whilst cracking her knuckles…

For a moment Naruto felt more fear than ever…then asked himself if Anko had been his mother's secret apprentice in intimidation…

And it showed…

Back in the real world

…in the physical realm…

Ellen and her chair fell backwards as Naruto suddenly started shivering violently…so much so that she could see the bed shaking.

Screaming out for help, Ellen did the only thing she could think of at the moment.

Moments later the medics entered the curtained of area only to find Ellen kneeling on top of Naruto in a very…suggestive way…with her hips directly over where his crotch is, face near his, leaving less than an inch between their lips…

"He just started shaking and thrashing." Ellen all but yelled at the medics, whose fears were eased at her words and the tone of her voice…she was not trying to do anything to Naruto and was clearly worried. They went to help her hold the unconscious Naruto down.

For a slight moment it seemed as though they were successful as they felt Naruto calm down.

"…hair…Ero-sennin…jutsu…" Naruto mumbled as his hair suddenly turned into a large yellow/blonde Hedgehog.

"Uh oh…" Ellen muttered, recognizing the state Naruto's hair was in. "Everybody, get down!" she immediately dove to the ground beside the bed.

Ellen's scream came just in time as the medics had barely touched the floor before the tent walls and roof was turned into…well…Emmental Cheese.

Through barely open eyes, Ellen watched in fear as the hair needles tore large holes into the thick canvas…and she swore on her life she heard screams of pain outside the tent…from numerous people.

The barrage was, thankfully, short lived.

"Lady Ellen…how did you know to warn us?" one of the medics asked.

"Uhm…" Ellen blushed in embarrassment. "Shortly after the Battle of Alsace, I…well…tried to sleep with Naruto."

"O…k…what does that have to do with this?" the same medic asked.

"Look…There is a reason why he had a good night's sleep and I didn't, ok." Ellen snapped at him, tried putting in an 'end of discussion' tone…

"Oh…I haven't heard of this." A new voice spoke up.

Ellen's face fell even further when she saw Sofya enter.

"Come on…I am listening." The staff wielding war maiden said.

Ellen's day had just gotten a little more...complicated...no…embarrassing…definitely…humiliating…(there is no word to describe it…)…

None of them noticed Naruto cracking open his eyes to see what the fuss was about.

 _'This is going to be interesting…'_ he thought.

Deep inside his conscience two voices agreed with him.

One embarrassing explanation later

The medics were dying of laughter whilst Sofya was giggling into her hand…none of which helped Ellen who seemed to just turn redder at each passing moment. Currently she was nearing the atomic stage.

"And…and what did…Naruto say…about that?" she asked in between giggles.

"I told her not to mind it…it was just a matter of bad timing on her part." Naruto said as he sat up and stretched his back and shoulders with audible 'cracks'. The others just stared at him.

"How long have you been awake?" Ellen squeaked.

"Since before you began your story." Naruto said, giving her his signature smile.

Ellen felt her entire world coming to an end as Sofya and those listening in began laughing with increased vigor.

The laughter increased even more when Ellen tried to lash out at Naruto…'tried' being the operative word…

She tripped over her own foot and went crashing into Naruto…but that wasn't what caused the increase in laughter…

"There, there…I am sure you missed me, Ellen-chan…" Naruto said with a soothing tone whilst petting Ellen's head. "Everything is alright. I am here. There is no need to cry."

Ellen would later be thankful that she fainted from embarrassment at that point…

Meanwhile inside Naruto's head his parents couldn't breathe…they were laughing that hard…

"We have got to tell the others…" someone began saying.

"If you spread the news about what has happened here today, I will use you as target practice…It has been a while since I have practiced my throwing arm…" Naruto said, his tone making it difficult to discern whether or not he was being serious.

Well…that was resolved when one unfortunate guy began shouting out, only getting two words out before he felt something enter his ass.

Everyone looked and saw a handle and a circular pommel with a hole in it sticking out of his butt.

"Oh…my bad…I accidentally threw a dummy knife…" Naruto said as he walked over.

The man's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when Naruto pulled it out in one painful motion.

"I knew I should have taken the kunai from my right armband rather than my left…" Naruto muttered in a carefree tone.

If alcohol really could make people forget, then the local taverns would have run out of it within an hour…

Meanwhile, on the battlefield

Rurick shouted at a soldier who had carelessly dropped a bundle of arrows onto a pile, telling him to be more careful, before looking at a hill, where Gerard Hughes and Olivier were in a discussion about where to bury their dead.

Rurick's eyes narrowed seeing the duo, but let them be as he at least admitted that Gerard was far better at logistics and negotiation than he was…still didn't mean that he liked him…

Rurick shook his head and returned to the task at hand…cleaning up one huge mess…

That evening, SMA command tent

Roland, Tigre, Mashas, Hughes, Lim and Sofya were sitting around a table in a discussion **(which is Canon…apart from the end…)**

"Say…what is keeping Ellen?" Sofya asked Lim, who was sitting next to her.

"Don't know." Lim told her silently. "A messenger from Regnitz suddenly showed up."

"I see…" Sofya said, understanding the hidden message.

"By the way…" Roland spoke up. "Where is that young swordsman who managed to defeat me?"

"Naruto?" Tigre asked. "Last I heard of him he was packing his things for a long journey."

"I see." Roland said. "I never expected to ever meet someone who could stand up to me in battle and come out alive, let alone defeating me whilst still recovering from a wound that should have been fatal."

"If you want, I can ask him to go and visit you before you break camp." Tigre offered.

"I'd like that." Roland said with a smile.

In Ellen and Naruto's tent

Whilst Naruto was packing his things to return to Leitmeritz and forge a new sword, Ellen was reading the message that had arrived from Regnitz…her eyes narrowed…

The next day

Roland stood before the hundreds of graves that held the fallen knights of his order, silently praying to their souls.

"I'll be back." He promised, turning around to leave.

"I guess even for you it isn't easy to see comrades dying, isn't it?" he looked at the person who asked the question.

Roland silently nodded.

"Tigre told me you wanted to talk with me." The person said.

"That I did, Naruto Uzumaki." Roland answered.

The two of them started discussing about their lives and what drove them to take up a sword…as well as a secret agreement between the two of them…one that neither of them hoped would need to be put into action any time soon…

Meanwhile in Ellen and Naruto's tent

Ellen buckled Arifar to her Belt, before speaking to Tigre who was standing behind her.

"I need to go back to Zhcted for a bit." She said.

"Huh?" Tigre gasped, not having expected that.

"There is a good friend, a war maiden like me, to whom I am indebted, Alexandra Alshavin, my mentor after becoming a war maiden." Ellen told him. "I call her Sasha. Regnitz, which Sasha governs, is under attack by another war maiden." Ellen looked at the message in her hands, more precisely the signature at the bottom. "I have to defend her."

"Defend her?" Tigre asked.

"We took an oath!" Ellen looked at him. "Whenever danger befalls either of us, we will come running, even if it means discarding all else." Tigre's face took on an expression of understanding while Ellen's became softer, as she began telling Tigre about Sasha's condition.

Later

"Lady Eleonora. Are you sure you don't want me to accompany you?" Lim asked her friend and leader.

"It will be fine. Besides, Naruto will be coming with me." Ellen told her. "Besides, someone needs to keep Tigre safe, right?"

Lim blushed slightly, but nodded, before looking over to where Tigre and Sofya were saying their fair-wells.

For some reason she had the feeling that soon she would have to fight for possession of Tigre…and she had no idea why…

The knightly order of Navarre had already left, with Roland riding towards Nice to meet the King. Naruto had already left for Leitmeritz, or so the clones he left behind claimed.

Lim shook her head…

For some reason she thought that the shinobi would make things more difficult for them some reason…

If only she knew that he had long ago set those chains in motion…

Two days later, noon

The soldiers patrolling the lands near Leitmeritz's capital were confused as to why there was smoke rising from the forge that Naruto built last time he was here.

Slowly they approached the building. On the command of the leader, they stormed in…only to wish they had removed their armor beforehand…

"Shit…that place is hot…" the first one outside shouted as he quickly removed his armor.

"You don't fucking say…" the second one said with the others agreeing as soon as they were out of their armor.

"Sorry for not giving you any notice…" a new voice spoke up. They turned to see Naruto wearing his Blacksmith's attire strolling out of the forge. "But the Boss was short on time and needs to regroup with Ellen-chan as soon as possible."

"Boss?" the soldiers asked.

"Oh, I am one of his clones." 'Naruto' said.

The soldiers gave a 'Ohhh' as though they understood…when in reality they understood absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, null, nichts, **(1)** …

"Oh, and you may want to alert the city that Ellen and roughly 3,000 of her knightswill be back in a few days." The clone said before disappearing inside the forge.

"How can that guy survive in there wearing those clothes?" one of the soldiers asked.

"No bloody idea…" another said.

"Anyway, we'd better return and alert everyone in the city." The leader told them. "I don't think that this place need any protection."

"True…though I'd like to see the faces on the bandits in this area when they try to enter that forge…" the second in command muttered.

The others agreed.

Some distance away, approaching the forge

A woman sneezed aloud, making the people around her look at her in surprise.

"Hay-fever…" she muttered.

With Naruto

Naruto was busy working the steel into a new sword when he felt a seal on his arm acting up painfully. Handing the hammer over to a clone, he went outside, bit his thumb, drew a line of blood over the seal, then ran through a few hand seals.

" _Kuchiyose no Jutsu_ " he said, slamming his hand onto the floor. With a large burst of smoke a large man appeared, looking like a pickled cucumber.

"Well…you look like shit!" Naruto commented, looking at the person he had just summoned.

Later that day

The door was thrown open, making Naruto swear loudly about people interrupting him.

Looking around, he saw several people dressed like Bandits entering the room…before passing out due to either the heat or the KI that Naruto was sending at them in irritation.

He sent a clone to tell the guards, who arrived within the hour to pick up the bandits…and apparently their leader, a female with a rack that would have made Lim jealous, had a hefty bounty on her head, and Naruto had no idea whatsoever as to where to put the 3,000 silver coins and the 300 gold coins…

3 days later

Ellen and her army rode into the city and were greeted by the cheers and cries of joy from the populace…and the occasional cry of relief from a Ramen dealer as 'The Ramen-monster would now be calmed down'.

As she rode past, she waived and greeted her people and was glad that she wasn't swarmed…physically at least…

"Ellen-sama (…), how are you?"

"…How are things with Naruto-san?"

"…Have you conquered Brune?"

"…Where is Limalisha-sama?"

"…How is that cute Archer?"

"… …"

The questions were so many and so diverse that Ellen did what Naruto once suggested to her:

Waive your hand, smile at them…and otherwise shut up and ignore them…

She told herself to have a pot of Ramen sent over to Naruto's forge as a 'thank you' gift…for the advice that is…

Once inside her Castle, she called out for the army to assemble and also gave the reason as to why, then asked where Naruto was, only to raise her eyebrows when she was told that he caught one of Zhcted's most wanted criminals without a fight…at least that was what the report said…

Going down to the dungeon she went to see the female criminal.

 _'Lim would be jealous…'_ was the first thing she thought upon seeing her.

And when she asked where Naruto was…

"I think he is still at his forge…" the man she put in charge whilst out campaigning didn't finish before she ran towards the stables…

The Stable master later swore he saw the horse Ellen rode out on shake its head at her antics…

45 minutes later

Ellen jumped of the horse before it had even stopped moving and burst through the door, only to be hit with a wall of heat.

Without thinking, she all but tore most of her clothes off (leaving only her loincloth behind) as they soon felt like they were on fire. She quickly looked around and saw Naruto kneeling by the source of the heat.

Naruto was busy heating the clay-covered blade up for the quench, drawing the blade in and out of the fire to ensure an even heating of the blade. Next to him was a tub of Oil mixed with grease and charcoal powder that he would undoubtedly use for the quench.

After a while, during which Ellen began sweating heavily, though she stayed silent.

Eventually she saw Naruto pull out a glowing mass of Clay and metal and thrust it into the oil. She was intrigued to see the blade first bend towards where the edge would be, then bend backward, taking on the shape of Naruto's former blade.

"Oh, Ellen-chan." Naruto said, looking at her. "I didn't notice you were there." He stood up. "And what is with that dress code?"

She was glad that the room was hot because it hid her deep blush…and she felt like beating the crap out of him…

She sighed in relief when he opened the doors and windows, letting the cool air into the room.

"Uhm…you may want to get dressed before anyone sees you…" Naruto told her.

He thought the red on her face was from the heat and that the heat also warmed up her muscles enough for her to move that fast…he hadn't known that females could dress in less time than it took Kakashi sensei to realize when Naruto had stolen his Icha Icha book a while back as a prank…not that it took long for him to notice…

One interrogation by Ellen later

"Are we finished now?" Naruto asked. "I…"

Ellen gave him a kiss to shut him up.

"One last question…How is it you could breathe in here with all of the doors and windows closed?" she asked.

"Oh…one of my…abilities...allows me to filter the air of most unnatural substances, such as smoke and stale air." Naruto said, not really lying…he just made a small barrier using some of the seals his Drill-sergeant-from-hell parents taught him…

"And how long are you still going to stay here?" Ellen asked.

"What happened to 'one last question'?" Naruto smirked at her.

Ellen punched his shoulder lightly.

Deciding to take a break, Naruto made a few clones to finish the blade…after which Naruto was all but dragged into the small room next to the forge by Ellen, where Naruto had built a small bedroom in case he needed to rest during a forging process (he could rest…he'd just make some clones to continue…).

She was intent on going beyond just kissing…but lost the will for all that when she saw the state of the small room…or more precisely, the 'bed'.

"Uhm, Ellen-chan…why are we here?" Naruto asked.

"Uhm…wrong door…" Ellen muttered, before dragging him through the entrance.

"Could have told you that…" Naruto deadpanned.

Ellen decided to stay quiet on the matter…why were things always complicated with Naruto?

 _'Mom, Dad…you guys sure of what she wanted to do?'_ Naruto thought.

 _'Ugh…Kushina…don't do it…'_ he heard Minato shouting in his head.

 _'SHUT UP!'_ his mother's voice echoed in his head. _'Uzumaki Nin-Fuinjutsu: Mewosamasu baka'_

Naruto mentally braced himself for whatever his mother's 'Wake Up Idiot' technique would do to him…but nothing happened.

 _'Huh? Was that supposed to do something?'_ Naruto asked his mother.

 _'Give it a few hours…the last time I used this technique was to make that Hiashi-baka realize tha…mpf?'_ his mother was cut off, probably by Minato who clamped a hand over her mouth.

Before either of them could say anything, Naruto thought _'Uhm…I guess you didn't know that that guy turned into a bit of an ass…'_

 _'…that is why Kushina used this technique…'_ Minato said.

 _'It clearly didn't work. Are you saying I am an ass?'_ Naruto thought.

 _'No. It just makes people grow up a bit faster…'_ Kushina managed to say through Minato's hand.

 _'So I will become taller than I am now?'_ Naruto asked them. He thought he heard two objects fall onto a stone floor inside his mind.

1 hour later

Ellen and Naruto were walking towards the training area where the Leitmeritz archers practiced their archery.

"Ah, Lady Ellen, Naruto." Several of them greeted the duo, though there was a slight hesitation with the second name.

"Relax…I guess you have all heard about what I am by now, right?" Naruto asked. Everyone who heard him nodded. "Well, I guess there is nothing I can do to make you trust me as before. Do you mind if I use the range for a bit?"

They all nodded and gave him the go ahead.

Naruto thanked them, then walked over to one of the squares that indicate the shooting position for the archers, then took out several Kunai an Shuriken.

"Are you really going to throw those from over here?" the archer next to him asked.

"Yup. Got a problem with that?" Naruto asked.

"Not really." The archer said.

Naruto was about to start throwing before a voice stopped him.

"Hold up, Naruto. Wait a few moments please…" Naruto looked over and saw a archer collecting bags of coins as though there was a bet going on.

"20 Silver that he doesn't hit the target."

"25 Silver on the same."

"18 Silver, 23 Bronze that he doesn't hit the target."

Several people placed their bets, and it seemed as though only 1 person betted on him to win.

"100 Gold that Naruto will hit the Bullseye." Someone said. Everyone turned to look at Ellen who placed a fairly large bag on the table, the contents clinking as it landed.

"Uhm…Lady Ellen…the distance between him and the target is about 150 alsins. While that is not an impossible throwing distance, to hit the bullseye is next to impossible." Someone said.

"My loss if he doesn't manage it then." Ellen said, hiding a smirk.

"Can I start?" Naruto asked in an irritated voice.

"Go for it." Ellen called over.

"FINALLY!" Naruto shouted as he threw the first kunai.

It didn't land on the bullseye…just went through it, leaving a hole behind where the red circle used to be.

Looking behind it, Naruto saw the Kunai stuck in the pillar behind it.

"Oops…I may have thrown it a little too hard…" Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Meh…who cares…"

The other targets soon met the same fate as the first…and Naruto hadn't even got to the Shurikens yet…

"You really didn't think I'd bet THAT much on a hunch, right?" Ellen said.

Many people had a downcast expression, before a crumbling sound was heard. Moments later the Pillars that Naruto had hit began collapsing, leaving the nearby soldiers wondering just how hard Naruto could throw…oh…if only they knew about the effects Wind-chakra has when applied to a blade…or a bit of his recently 'unlocked' Lightning-chakra… **(2)**

"Ok…I definitely should have held back on those throws…" Naruto said, once again scratching the back of his head.

Naruto looked at Ellen and felt the weird feeling he has had for a while now, only this time it was as if it was amplified.

 _'Mom…Dad…is this what 'love' is?'_ he mentally asked.

 _'Yes!/Yep!'_ came the answer.

 _'What do you like about her?'_ his father asked.

 _'Well, she has very pretty hair…'_ Naruto began, only to stop when he heard his mother laughing her ass off.

 _'Minato…he is…definitely…your son…'_ She said.

 _'Huh?'_ Naruto asked. _'Why wouldn't I be?'_

 _'Kushina…he is definitely your son…'_ His father said, laughing as well. _'Anything else?'_

 _'Well, she does have a nice face and large breasts…'_ Naruto continued.

 _'You have spent too much time with Jiraya-sensei…'_ Minato muttered.

 _'I think a better name would be Ero-sennin…'_ at Naruto's words both parents burst out in laughter…though this time it sounded like one of nostalgia rather than humor.

Naruto, confused, decided to interrogate them later…

Right now, Ellen was approaching him…and once again showed the females there that Naruto was off limits to them.

She was in for a shocking experience though…as Naruto, for the first time, actually returned the kiss…

Those watching couldn't see that though…as Ellen was embracing Naruto in such a way that his arms were kinda stuck on the sides of his body…

What they did notice was that many of their fellow watchers had tears flowing down their eyes and blood running from their noses…

 **(1): want me to continue?**

 **(2): the way I understand things, the Hiraishin no Jutsu is a lightning based jutsu mixed with Fuinjutsu. During the 'training in Hell' Naruto learned to manipulate all five elements, though lightning and earth are only at beginners level, fire and water he can use at an acceptable level, and he truly mastered wind…**

 **Chapter 14: Invasion (part 1)**

Somewhere on the southern border of Olmütz

The man made his presence known by purposefully stepping on a dry twig, alerting the nearby patrol. Instead of hiding, he walked out of cover with his hands up, showing that he didn't want to fight.

"Who are you?" one of the soldiers demanded.

"A man who carries a message for Lady Ludomila Lourie from one Naruto Uzumaki." He said.

"Really?" a short girl with light blue hair and blue clothes stepped forward. "And what does that Jackass want of me?"

"Well…" the man began, flinging his black hair out of his face.

Mila gasped wide eyed, recognizing him.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" she all but shouted, brandishing her spear.

In Brune, SMA Camp

Following their victory against the Order of Navarre, the Silver Meteor Army had gotten a large influx of men and materials, predominantly from those Nobles who have received letters from Mashas and Hughes, as well as from some of the minor nobles whose people had suffered heavily due to the actions of Ganelon and Thenardier.

A few days after the second battle, news reached Mashas about Roland's death at the hands of Ganelon, as well as the somber news about an invasion by Muozinellan to the south.

Muozinellan was the only neighboring country that had a system of slavery in place…and a ridiculously huge one at that…

They would invade other countries at will and without warning, repeatedly engaging in slaughter, rape and plundering.

Their target changes with their fancy, and Brune just happened to be their target this time.

And due to the Civil war, Brune had little to no method of dealing with the invaders at the moment.

"I have made my decision!" Tigre said.

Everyone looked at him.

"I will go and fight the invaders." Tigre said.

"What?" Lim asked. Titta was not far behind together with Rurick.

"If we don't stop the Muozinellan invasion, they will eventually reach Alsace." Tigre told them. "I do not intend to take our remaining Zhcted forces with me as this is technically not their fight…"

"Well, I for one will follow you." Rurick said, interrupting Tigre. "And don't give me the 'You don't have to come' bullshit."

"And I will also come. I promised Ellen to keep you out of trouble." Lim said.

"Ah, you just don't want to leave you boyfriend, right?" Mashas teased.

"And don't you dare tell me not to go…" Titta piped up, puffing out her cheeks. "I am not a soldier and thus you cannot order me not to go."

"Well, we do need her…" Rurick said, much to the surprise of everyone present. "The Muozinellan invasion force is sure to have several sla…prisoners with them who are scared…with how cute she is, she could calm them down."

Titta didn't know whether to take his words as an insult or a compliment.

Mashas and Hughes voiced their own concerns about the threat Ganelon might pose, and regretfully informed Tigre that they wouldn't be able to help him with this fight.

By having helped Tigre, after him being branded a traitor, they themselves had been labeled as traitors, meaning that both Ganelon and Thenardier could attack them without consequences. They had to see to the safety of their own lands.

Tigre sighed, having expected this.

"Then that just leaves the issue on how many are coming with us." Tigre said. "I'd like word to spread amongst the troops about this invasion. Tomorrow, all those who still wish to fight, even if the odds are against us like at the moment, are to form up on the plains south of the camp."

"Very well." Hughes said, with Mashas agreeing.

"Do we know how many there are in the invasion?" Lim asked.

"Nothing certain yet, but initial reports suggest somewhere between 15 and 25 thousand." Mashas said.

This made everyone in the tent sag slightly.

Unknown amount of time later

Titta walked towards Tigre's personal tent and called out to him. She was surprised to hear him respond, especially at this time of day.

"Oh, Titta. You are still up this late?" he asked as she entered.

"It is already morning, you know." Titta told him, intrigued by this new development. The only times she could remember talking with Tigre this early in the morning were when she accompanied him on his hunts.

She then saw the map on the ground before him with 4 figures standing on it, each indicating a different power currently in Brune: Ganelon, Thenardier, Tigre and the Muozinellan invaders.

Titta unpacked the basket she was carrying on the table and all but ordered Tigre to eat breakfast.

A groan came from the section of the tent that served as the sleeping area, and soon a still sleepy Lim wobble-walked in.

"Hmm? Titta? What are you doing here this late?" she asked.

"It is just past sunrise, actually, and I brought food for the two of you." Titta said.

This awoke Lim fully. "I never thought I'd live to see the day that Tigre would be up this early…" she said.

"He never went to bed in the first place." Titta told her. "He was up all night, planning."

Lim muttered something about 'no wonder I was so cold' under her breath, but otherwise kept quiet and got dressed.

A few hours later

Tigre looked across the field. Before him over half of the current SMA had gathered, a good 2,500 strong, and that number was slowly growing…

It was more than Tigre could have hoped for. What surprised him was that most of the remaining Zhcted troops joined him…

Several days later, southern mountains

Tigre, Rurick and two others were looking down at the horde of invasion troops and the lines of prisoners they had with them, marching, or staggering in the latter's case, through the canyon.

"There's too many for us to attack head on." Tigre said.

"You don't say…what gave it away?" Rurick joked. The other two members of the scouting party smirked.

 _'Should I use this?'_ Tigre thought, looking at his bow. _'No…I still cannot control its power yet…'_

"Let's go back before any of them spot us up here." Tigre said. The other three nodded.

After they managed to get a safe distance away from the invading army, Rurick asked, "By the way, why did we have to bring that jerk Gerard along with us? Shouldn't he have remained in Territoire and helped defend his home?"

"Well for one, he as good with logistics, figures and numbers as you are with weapons. Without his help, this army would run out of supplies within weeks." Tigre said. "It is thanks to him that I could focus more on the battle against Roland."

"That may be true, but there is still something about him that I don't like…" Rurick said.

"Hey now, let's all get along with each other…" Tigre began before his Hunter instinct kicked in, his hearing sharpening considerably. "Footsteps?" he asked silently.

Moments later he and the others were standing above another ravine, though this one was a lot smaller and narrower than the one where the Muozinellan invasion force was marching through.

Peeking around the rock, his eyes widened when he saw a cloaked figure, female judging by the way it ran, running from 4 Muozinellan soldiers who were close on her heels.

Suddenly the girl tripped over a rock and fell on her face. Instantly the soldiers had surrounded her, laughing evilly. One of them sheathed his sword and began undoing his belt…

He didn't even feel any pain as an arrow through his helmet and through his temple sent him to the next life. The now lifeless corpse had barely fallen to the floor before more arrows flew through the air, hitting the other three soldiers, also piercing through their helmets and skulls.

The female got up of the ground, seeing the four dead bodies as she looked around…and was clearly confused as to what had happened.

Indeed, she was so focused on trying to determine what had happened that she didn't her Tigre approach her from behind.

"Are you all right?" Tigre's words snapped her out of her confused state. She immediately moved away from him a bit, then turned around, letting Tigre see her turquoise eyes and bright blonde hair…

Tigre felt the smallest possible amount of recognition for her, but it was so small that he dismissed it as having seen her once on passing during one of the trips he went on with his father.

Seeing her defensive and untrusting expression, Tigre lowered himself to one knee whilst making it clear that he had no hostile intentions.

"You don't need to be afraid." He said. "I'm Tigrevurmud Vorn. I'm a Bruneman."

For a moment he saw surprise on her face, then a smile formed on her face.

"Tigre…vurmud…" she said…and Tigre was surprised to hear recognition in her voice…as if she knew him from somewhere.

But that had to wait as she lost consciousness. Scrambling forward, he barely managed to catch her.

After a while, he called out to Rurick. "Hey Rurick! Come give me a hand!"

That evening, Tigre's camp

Tigre, Lim, Rurick and Gerard were in the command tent, listening to Gerards Inventory report.

"Each bowman recieves 56 arrows. I made sure each Cavalryman got 12 stones, and each soldier got 5, but for a large scale battle, that won't last the whole fight." Gerard said.

"Supplies…" Tigre muttered.

"There's one other problem. The Muozinellan force has with them our people, whom they've enslaved." Gerard looked up from the paper he was holding. "If they use them as shields, we won't be able to strike at them."

"Understood." Tigre said. Lim meanwhile could sense the turmoil inside Tigre at the last bit of news.

Sunrise, the next morning, Muozinellan army

The Muozinallen army walked out of the Ravine into an area where numerous other ravines connected with this one, allowing for a moment of relief from the narrow pathway.

"It's almost sunup." The leader of the army commented.

"General, Sir." A soldier said from his kneeling position next to him. "The enemy has arrived. They appear to be a Brunish army."

"How many?" the general asked.

"Between 100 and 200. They are all Cavalrymen." The soldier reported. "But they are keeping their distance, and attacking our left flank with stones and arrows."

"Send 3.000 spearmen to eradicate them." The general said.

"Isn't 3.000 far too great a number? Wouldn't 500 be enough?" the soldier asked.

"The horsemen are just a decoy. Hit their main force." The general said.

"Yes, Sir." The soldier said, going to give the orders.

"If their decoy is 200, their main force is 2.000." the general said to himself.

Timeskip

Oh, the small force was a decoy alright…

The 200 or so cavalry led the pursuing Muozinellan force into a very narrow ravine where the leading elements were greeted with the sight of the main force.

Thinking that there were between 5.000 and 6.000 of them, the front tried to retreat, running right into the rear guard, causing huge chaos amongst their ranks, which only increased when Tigre shot the commanding officers from the usual 300 alsin distance…

And into the chaos the SMA charged, shattering the enemy as though they were nothing but a mob of crazy fanatics.

In short, it was a bloody and brief battle.

Afterwards

Tigre rode amongst the dead, which predominantly belonged to the invaders, through there were a few Brunish and Zhcted soldiers amongst the dead as well.

"The first battle went well enough." He commented before looking up at the remainder of his 'army'.

…which turned out to be nothing but dummies dressed/built in such a way that they were indistinguishable against the morning sky.

Soon Rurick and the other soldiers were salvaging everything they could, placing the arrows in quivers without wiping them down first due to the haste, whilst the spears were gathered and added to their own stockpile.

Some of the armor was also savlaged as it was still usable, but would first have to go through a color change before it could be handed out amongst those soldiers who needed it.

Thus, over the next few days, Tigre deployed a series of pretty successful Hit-and-Run tactics against the invading force, witling their numbers down as time went by.

On the 3rd day, Qasim, the Muozinellan general, made an effort to counter Tigre's actions.

"You cowardly Brunish soldiers, crawling around like worms while hiding behind rocks!" one of the Muozinellan officers shouted, standing before a group of slaves, kneeling on the ground. "We will not put up with your petty tricks forever! If you choose to conceal yourselves, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!"

The sound of Spears being thrust into bodies echoed across the canyon, followed for a moment by screams of pain.

"Forward." Qasim ordered.

Qasim had decided to change the marching formation, splitting his army into three divisions, a vanguard of 3.000, led by himself, the main force and then the rear guard.

He strongly believed that there was no danger of being attacked head on.

But once again his expectations were way of the mark as his Vanguard encountered the Silver Meteor Storm, numbering around 600.

Many were relieved at finally engaging them, but Qasim was shocked to find that Tigre, an archer, was leading an army of soldiers from a country renowned for frowning upon the use of bows.

Snapping out of his shock, he was about to order his archers to open up with a volley of arrows before a new warcry erupted from their flank.

To the complete shock of the Muozinellan soldiers they recognized banners belonging to Zhcted.

Both groups charged into the Muozinellan ranks, making full use of the unsteady ranks of the invasion army.

Before Qasim could rally his troops, he saw Tigre aim his bow at him, but felt no fear, as it was a distance of over 300 alsins…he clearly didn't know of Tigre.

With the death of Qasim, the Muozinellan troops began to route, leaving the slaves behind together with their weapons and supplies.

Tigre commanded Lim and Rurick to lead the pursuit whilst Gerard would handle the freed prisoners.

That evening

Tigre looked at the large group of freed prisoners, wondering what to do, especially as her was feeling guilty after one of them blamed him for the deaths of some of their friends.

"We have no choice but to send them to Territoire." Gerard gave his oppinion. "There's no other way."

"Tigre." Lim called over. "We have a problem!" she said.

Moments later

"An advance party!" Gerard said in disbelief.

"Yes. All the prisoners we took said said the same thing. 'We are just the forerunners.'" Rurick said.

"If they are an advance party, what about the main force?" Tigre asked.

"Well…about that…" Rurick began, not sure on how to give that bit of information.

"They number 30.000." Lim gave the blunt answer.

"30.000…" Tigre said.

"If they join up with the survivors of the advance group, then it won't be today or tomorrow, but in several days we can expect roughly 40.000." Gerard said.

"And the men and women are being worn out by the repeated engagements." Tigre said. "Not to mention the 2.000 civilians we saved."

Meanwhile, closing in on their position

"Ne, Ice-nee-san…" a small pink-clad, strawberry-blond girl said over to the blue-clad, sky-blue haired girl to her side. "Are we sure we can trust the words of that blonde Bastard? Or that scary old man who delivered the bastard's message?"

"Stop calling me that, Olga." Mila said. "And Naruto may be a jackass and a bastard, but he is definitely not a liar. As for the old man…" she looked over at the black haired man riding behind them, wearing heavy armor. "…he is a knight whose honor prevents him from lying in general."

"I know that Lady Ludomila Lourie here has engaged Naruto in combat once before, but what about you, young girl?" the man asked Olga, who pouted at him, making even Mila think _'cute'_.

"He is a disrespectful bastard who dissed me and made fun of me, then managed to defeat me in a duel." She said. "And I am not a young girl…I am 14!"

The next day, midday

The SMA was making very slow progress due to the wounded and the exhausted.

This concerned Tigre somewhat, and his fears were confirmed when a scout rode up and reported about a unit of Muozinellan knights closing in, numbering between 3.000 and 4.000.

Leaving Rurick and Lim in charge of the main group, Tigre called for every available horseman to follow him to try and slow the advancing Muozinellan cavalry.

They soon came face to face with said cavalry, but soon discovered that their volleys did nothing to slow the charging cavalry at all.

The charging Cavalry came to a halt less than 100 alsins away from Tigre…and both sides were staring at the reason.

A huge force of Knights were approaching them at a trot.

Thinking that they were more enemies at first, Tigre's slight horror turned to surprise as he recognized the standard of Zhcted, as well as one of the other two…a mainly white banner with two blue spears on it.

Before he could say anything more, the Zhcted cavalry went from a trot to a canter, then into a gallop, smashing into the Muozinellan cavalry like a hammer against a pane of glass.

Tigre barely managed to order his men to charge as well before the Muozinellan cavarly began their counterattack, but the outcome had pretty much already been decided.

One brief, bloody battle later

"It has been a while, Count Tigrevurmud Vorn." Tigre looked at the female who said those words.

"The Principality of Olmütz's Snow Princess of the Frozen Ripple…" Tigre explained to most of his troops who seemed to be a little on edge, "Ludomila Lourie!"

Tigre looked at the black haired man behind her in surprise.

"What? How?" he exclaimed.

"It has been a while, Tigre. You can thank Naruto for my survival, though if you don't mind, I'd like to have a crack at Ganelon's neck before you do anything to him." The man said with a smile.

Tigre then turned to the pink clad girl next to them.

"I didn't know that Zhcted allowed small young girls to enter their armed forces…" he said, making the black haired man burst out laughing, having had almost the same reaction on meeting the young Vanadis.

"Mou…why do Pinky here and Old Man Roland here have to be so mean?" the girl started sulking, then began giving Tigre the 'I am 14 Years old' lecture as well as the 'I am a Vanadis as well' lecture, and ending up with a 'Thank the Blonde Bastard for her help' lecture. **(1)**

Tigre felt his eyebrows twitch slightly at being called 'Pinky', but couldn't fault her on the nickname as it pretty much described the color of his hair.

"Well, now that the greetings are over with…" Olga said, "…where are Breezy-nee-sama and Boobie-nee-chan?"

"Huh?" Tigre asked, while Mila was trying to suppress a giggle.

"She means Eleonora and Limalisha." She clarified.

"Oh…Well, Ellen is back in Zhcted with Naruto while Lim is leading the main group together with the refugees." Tigre said.

"Are Eleonora and the Bastard still oblivious to each other's feelings?" Mila asked.

"Well, there is definitely something going on between them, but when they left it was still only Ellen trying to make the moves on Naruto." Tigre explained.

"With someone as strong as Naruto, I am surprised that he doesn't have girls swarming all over him." Roland commented.

"You…have met Ellen before, right?" Tigre asked.

"More like fought her…" Roland answered. "She is a proud and honorable warrior, I'll give her that…amongst the best sword wielders I have met, other than Naruto."

 _'That was not what the discussion was about…'_ Tigre and Mila thought.

Olga meanwhile was too focused on studying the pink of Tigre's hair to bother with paying attention to the conversation.

She was wondering how she'd look like with that hair as a wig…

Back with the main group

Lim shivered, fearing something has happened to Tigre.

Leaving Rurick in charge, she galloped away, following the tracks, hoping that Tigre was alright…

 **(1): and the identity of the unknown man has been revealed. And before any of you ask, I decided to have Roland survive as it makes some of the future events more explainable, as you will all read later on…**

 **Chapter 15, Naruto: the old tactics still work**

Regnitz, a week after Ellen and Naruto left

"So, Ellen…tell me more about this Sasha buddy of yours." Naruto said. The two of them were currently riding (or jogging) through the streets of Regnitz, heading towards the main Castle. Camped outside the Walls was a large army wielding the Leitmeritz banners, who had accompanied Ellen and Naruto to help aid Regnitz in its current situation.

"Well, when she was still active, she was strong enough to take on both me and Mila at the same time and win without breaking a sweat, though that is mostly because as with Roland, the two of us have no experience facing a dual wielder." Ellen told him, thinking back to a time when she and Mila had come here to visit Sasha, only to have a fight nearly break out between them, only to be stopped by Sasha, who told them that if they managed to win against her, she'd do whatever they told her to do for a day. Well, back then the two of them had more pride than brains and blindly charged at her. Mila and Ellen got off on a light toasting that day compared to some of the times when Sasha stopped a fight between them…unlike with Sofya who just gives them temporary growth spurts…

"And what exactly does Regnitz specialize in?" Naruto asked, changing the subject.

"Regnitz is more of a Jack of all trades, but in the eyes of the other principalities it is the Trade Hub of the Kingdom, connecting trade routes from both land and the sea." Ellen told him.

"Is that why the Castle looks like an oversized Merchants office?" he asked. Ellen laughed.

"I asked the same thing the first time I was here…" she said, wiping away her tears at the nostalgic memories.

Shortly afterwards

An aide showed Naruto and Ellen towards Shasha's quarters, which were in a well lit corridor near the main conference room.

Knocking the door, the Aide opened it after a few seconds to allow Ellen and Naruto access to the room.

Inside they saw a bluenette whose hair-color reminded Naruto of Hinata, though this female's hair was much shorter and she didn't have the pale eyes.

"Jo. Sorry for making you come all the way here." She said. Naruto could immediately tell that she was anything but timid and shy like Hinata had been.

"That was our agreement." Ellen said.

"The little ones are thrilled to see you." Sasha said. "By the way, who is this?" Sasha asked, looking at Naruto.

"Oh, right…this is…" Ellen began but was interrupted by Naruto.

"Sup. Name's Naruto Uzumaki. Wandering swordsman and ass kicking mercenary working under Ellen-chan." Naruto introduced himself.

Ellen was about to reprimand him when she heard Sasha giggle.

"I can tell that he is an easy going and caring person…are you two a couple?" Sasha asked.

"No/Yes." The simultaneous answers by Naruto and Ellen respectively brightened Sasha's smile…and what happened next made the smile bigger.

"What do you mean we are not yet a couple?" Ellen was aghast.

"Were I come from, one can only officially call it a couple after the first date." Naruto told her.

"The first what?" Ellen asked. Sasha was trying hard to keep her mirth at a giggle.

"The first date." Naruto repeated.

"Date? What does this have to do with the date?" Ellen asked.

Any further conversation was cut short by Sasha bursting into full blown laughter, complete with tears in her eyes.

"Ellen…the 'date' he refers to probably is the same as courting." Sasha said.

Ellen looked at Naruto.

"What she said." He told her. "Whatever she said…"

"So sleeping together cannot be called a date?" Ellen asked.

"No."

"Training together?"

"No."

Ellen tried several other options that she and Naruto had done together, but all of them got the same answer from Sasha.

"WE HAVE FINALLY GOTTEN TO THE PART WHERE NARUTO RETURNS THE KISS…AND WE STILL ARE NOT A COUPLE?!" Ellen cried onto the floor, while Sasha and Naruto laughed at the display.

"Say, Naruto-san, are you not depressed by this?" Sasha asked.

"Not really…I only began understanding my feelings a few weeks ago and had determined my feelings for Ellen a few days ago, shortly before we left Leitmeritz." Naruto told her.

"Pity you came here only at this time…had you come a few years earlier, I'd have snatched you away from Ellen…" Sasha chuckled.

"…still not a couple…" Ellen was too absorbed in her depression to hear what Sasha had said.

"Hey, Ellen…" Ellen looked up and saw Naruto kneeling before her and before she could say anything, he kissed her. Sasha applauded the display, though she felt a bit jealous of the white head…she could tell that Naruto was a hunk of a man…

"How about once this business here in Regnitz is over, I take you on a date?" Naruto asked. It took a while for the words to sink in, but when they did, Naruto was having trouble breathing due to Ellen's uncountable kisses…and her bear hug…

After Ellen had calmed down, Sasha said, "Well, I hope for the best for the two of you."

Ellen and Naruto smiled at one another at that as there was at least one person who blessed their relationship…and this one being once a powerful one at that…

"Well, back to where we were…let's talk about the rude jerk who has set foot in this land." Ellen asked.

"The Flash Princess of the Thunder Swirl, Elizaveta Fimina." Sasha said.

Ellen momentarily grew angry.

Naruto on the other hand… "Who?"

"The bitch dressed in purple clothes and the different colored eyes." Ellen explained.

"Oh…that one…who is she again?" Naruto's question made the two Vanadis sweat drop.

"What pretense is she using to march soldiers?" Ellen asked Sasha…after having given Naruto a brief and to the point description of who they were talking about…again…

Apparently Elizaveta was marching under the pretense that during a recent joint naval battle against pirates, Sasha's fleet had driven the bulk of the pirate ships engaging them towards Elizaveta's fleet. Unfortunately there is no way to prove that such an order was given as Sasha's admiral was amongst the fallen.

The conversation then turned towards their dragon gears…by which time Naruto had fallen asleep and was using Ellen's lap as a pillow.

2 days later, near Boroszlo

A pink haired female was sitting on her horse overlooking a valley.

"Lady War Maiden!" a knight called out as he rode up to her. "A report from our scouts. There's a force of approximately 4,000 to the south."

"Under what banner?" she asked.

"Two of them." The knight reported. "Paired swords on a yellow field, and a silver flash on black."

"So you are here, Ellen!" she said.

Soon both armies were formed up across of each other, with Ellen leading the joint Regnitz-Leitmeritz army and Elizaveta leading her own army.

Standing beside Ellen was none other than Naruto, sword ready to be drawn.

Soon, and almost at the same time, the orders were given to charge, with Naruto disappearing at high speed to who knows where and Ellen galloping towards Elizaveta, calling over to the Regnitz Commander to take over.

 **(The Battle between Ellen and Liza is Canon…)**

With Naruto

Naruto was surprised at the speed at which he approached the enemy…it seems as though the days of tortu…training with his mother and father had paid of.

But his surprise was nothing compared to that of the enemy soldiers as all they saw was a blur and then they noticed a mop of yellow hair amongst their ranks.

"Listen here, guys…if possible, I'd rather not want to kill anyone today, so please return to your camp." Naruto told them in a bored tone.

For a moment nobody moved…or even registered his words…

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" they all shouted at the same time.

"Do you have to shout that loud?" Naruto grumbled, holding his ears. "Anyway, I am Naruto Uzumaki, swordsman and ass-kicking mercenary."

"Ah…he is the one working under that Eleonora chick…the shinobi or someth…" one of the officers began, only to stop. Everyone paled as they turned to look at Naruto.

"Now, don't freak out here…I am not a shinobi like those Ser-ass assholes…" Naruto's words went unheard and he started dodging spears.

"Why do I never get a moment of peace?" Naruto cried out as he started shredding weapons and armor all around him. "At this rate I'll even have to cancel my planned date with Ellen…"

The enemy soldiers and knights sweat dropped. They were getting their asses handed to them by a young boy muttering about a date with…what do they call her again?…that Eleonora chick.

Well, many of them felt jealous of him as he has the opportunity to touch those boobs that were bigger than those of their own war maiden…

After a while the fight ended, with most of the enemy army having already ridden of to engage the Regnitz-Leitmeritz force, leaving only a handful of knights and soldiers surrounding Naruto, most of them in need of a new set of equipment.

"Well, I think I will end this fight now…" Naruto said, sheathing his sword. The knight and soldiers readied themselves for an assault…

…that would never come as they expected it.

" _Orioke no Jutsu_ " Naruto said, making a handsign.

All of the enemy soldiers were blown back by massive nosebleeds at the sight of a completely nude Naruko with small wisps of smoke covering her nipples and nethers.

Moments later Naruto cancelled the jutsu and started walking towards the Leitmeritz camp.

He made it halfway before he noticed that the battle had ended and men and women from both sides were returning to their respective camps. He was soon joined by Ellen who rode up towards him, then began walking with him.

He reached over and took her hand in his.

 _'Mom, Dad…any ideas on where to take her on the first date?'_ Naruto asked his parents.

 _'The beach?'_ Kushina suggested.

 _'A walk in the forest,…'_ Minato added.

 _'Cook her dinner…'_ Kushina.

 _'Watch the stars from the roof…'_ Minato.

 _'Picknick in the fields…'_ Kushina.

 _'The theatre…'_ Minato.

 _'A restaurant…'_ Kushina.

…and several others.

Naruto would eventually decide on the second suggestion…with some changes…

The next day, late morning

The soldiers watched in a mix of amusement, shock and jealousy as Naruto and Ellen returned from their 'Date'.

The two of them had left early in the morning for a walk through the forest and had been gone for around 2 hours.

But that is not the reason for the various looks.

Naruto was currently supporting Ellen…who was walking with a slight limp to her step.

"They went and did IT!" a female shouted, seeing the limp.

Loud cheers, moans and growl erupted from them…together with blood from bleeding noses curtsy of the perverted imagination from numerous people.

 **And Done.**

 **Sorry for the long wait, I was on holiday at a place where I had no Wifi or internet.**

 **AND PLEASE, LEAVE A REVIEW WITH THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS!**

 **IDEAS FOR FUTURE CONTENT ARE ALSO ACCEPTED!**

 **Omake: How things might have turned out at each of the other Date suggestions**

The Beach

Naruto and Ellen would have gone to the beach and ended up (not) having a good time as they tanned in the sun whilst the local paparazzi watched from afar…

Ellen growled as this was supposed to be a private beach and she really wanted to go beyond 'hands on cloths'…more like no clothes at all…

Cooking Dinner

Ellen arrived at the house in Leitmeritz that Naruto had bought with the money he got from capturing that female bandit…only to see thick black smoke escaping from the windows.

Rushing in, she found Naruto in the kitchen, trying to extinguish a fire on the stove.

Apparently he had…burnt…the food…

Watching the stars from the roof

Naruto and Ellen fall asleep in each other's arms…

More like Naruto fell asleep first and Ellen fell asleep after snuggling up on him.

Picknick in the fields

Ellen and Naruto enjoy a nice meal in the fields, but as with on the Beach option, she couldn't take it further due to certain…individuals…

She tried getting rid of them with her sword, but ended up destroying the surrounding crops…

Going to the Theatre

Naruto regretted having taken her to a Theatre as the pace was so slow compared to the movies he used to watch back in Konoha.

He fell asleep…which went unnoticed by a tearing Ellen…

They were watching a romantic/drama show…

The Restaurant

Naruto was having so much trouble looking for a suitable restaurant.

Ellen soon found out the reason for his lack of choices…

He was looking for a place that offered Ramen…


	6. Chapter 16 - Chapter 18

**Hey all…and wow this is the largest number of Reviews I have ever gotten for a single chapter bundle…**

 **Sorry for the long wait. I have been working on getting the next update for 'A Fox is Semper Fidelis' uploaded and my studies have resumed, so I only have a limited time to write each day.**

 **Responses/comments on Reviews:**

 **ThePizziaMan:** How about you read this next chapter? I will make things clear there.

 **Tera12:** Glad you liked it. XD

 **kyudoran:** Thanks for the like. And can you imagine a good Naruto-based story without a character like the real Naruto? Or at least similar to him?

 **plums:** Glad you liked the chapter. As for the deliberate denseness, it will end very soon. I promise.

 **I love Inyouchu Anime:** Glad you liked it. The Cover pic was made by Amenoosa.

 **wolf191000:** I thought that someone like him who knows when he is defeated deserves a second chance.

 **READER1O1O:** It wouldn't be a Naruto story (based on the canon Naruto) without THAT particular jutsu…even if it was classified by the third Hokage as a Forbidden jutsu. (For a…bloody…good reason…

 **Alex2909:** Well, Naruto did have a very powerful wakeup call…curtsy of his mom…

 **Shadow-Mind-Comics:** I base my chapter bundles on 2 episodes of the anime. The second episode was a rather fast based one so there wasn't much I could do there.

 **Guest (To chapters 1-3):** I am not a fan of writing harems and besides, Lim and Tigre look cute together.

 **Guest (To chapters 4-6):** Listen buddy, this is how I write my stories. I prefer to keep some things accurate and others not.

 **Guest (To chapters 10-12):** If I didn't make Naruto like that, then it would be an OP MC story, which I am not fond of. Also, there is no way to properly gauge the power differences between the two animes. As for the shinobi/assassin issue, Shinobi in this world are assassins who don't give a shit about collateral damage. Also, assuming that you are the same bloke who wrote the comments for the previous two responses, read your own review: 'it's a FANTASY ANIME meaning it isn't going to be factually accurate…' this can also be said to pretty much any fanfiction.

 **Rant at Ranting Guest:** …I have a feeling that if a poll was started about agreeing or disagreeing here would crash the fanfiction servers…DO NOT REVIEW OR PM ABOUT THIS RESPONSE PLEASE!

 **And now onto the story…**

 **Chapter 16, Invasion (part 2)**

Naruto and Ellen looked at the grinning horde of soldiers with confusion, until the woman's words sank in, making both of them turn crimson in the face.

"N-no, we…" Ellen began.

"So tell me. Is he the gentle type or the rough type?" another woman asked.

"Naruto, was she as active then as she is in battle?" a man called out.

"Who made the first move?" someone shouted.

"Is it the reason why you guys took so long?" another asked.

…and uncountable more questions of the sort followed in rapid succession, giving the pair no room to answer.

And with each question their blushes grew…

Meanwhile, with the SMA plus added help

Tigre, Lim, Olga, Mila and Roland were sitting around a table in discussion about how to deal with the second wave of invaders. Mila explained that this second wave is being led by Barbaros, a master tactician who has supposedly never been defeated before. But she reminded them that defensive warfare is her forte.

They therefore agreed to make their stand on a pair of Hills past which the road ran.

"At the rate at which the enemy is advancing, it will take 3-4 days for them to reach the hills." Roland said.

"Do you think that Ellen and Naruto will arrive in time?" Tigre asked.

"Meh…we don't need her to win this battle." Mila said.

"I understand not needing the Blond Bastard, but why don't we need Breezy-onee-sama?" Olga asked.

The others looked at Olga as though she had a second head.

"What?" the young Vanadis asked.

"…let's return to the topic at hand, shall we?" Lim suggested. Everyone except for Olga agreed. The latter still wanted an answer for her question though.

After the meeting

Mila, Tigre and Lim stayed behind in the command tent after the meeting.

"To be honest, though I said that we don't need Ellen, I lied. As it is, we will be hard pressed to even stall Barbarossa's advance, let along come out victorious." Mila confessed. "We need all the help we can get, even if it comes from her."

Mila sighed.

"And if she is still in Regnitz or even Leitmaritz when my messenger arrives, we won't be able to count on her arriving before the battle begins." She added.

"So basically we are on our own." Lim said.

"Still…40,000 enemy soldiers…against our 7,000…" Tigre muttered.

"And roughly a third of our forces are tired from constantly fighting." Lim said.

"And we also have to take care of the refugees…" Mila said.

All three of them sighed.

"This is going to be a hard battle, isn't it?" Tigre asked.

"Without a doubt." Lim said.

Back with Naruto and Ellen, a few hours earlier

After throwing a massive tantrum, Ellen and Naruto managed to calm the soldiers down enough to explain what had happened, but before they could do that, a messenger from Mila arrived.

 _"Eleonora,_

 _I have tried all the other options and can now only turn to you for help._

 _Olga and I have taken some of our forces to aid Tigre by request from that bastard you have a crush on._

 _Muozinellan has sent a massive invasion force led by none other than Barbarossa. I don't know the exact numbers of enemy troops, so I cannot give an exact figure, but we are no doubt heavily outnumbered._

 _I hope that this message reaches you soon._

 _Loudomila Lourie."_

This brought the entire Leitmeritz camp into immediate activity as the soldiers quickly packed their gear into carts before hopping on themselves and holding on as a long ass caravan of men and equipment made their way south at relatively high speed. And leading them was a full company of knight, a Vanadis…and a blonde asskicking, Ex-Shinobi swordsman running alongside said Vanadis.

All thoughts about what could have happened in the forest were gone from the minds of the soldiers…rather placed at the back of their mind for the time being.

3 days later, near the two hills, Ellen and Naruto

Naruto and Ellen were in a meeting with a few of the Officers concerning what to do in the upcoming battle.

"It appears that the SMA has taken up a heavily fortified position on the southern hill." One of the scouts reported.

"What about the other one?" Ellen asked.

"Well, it is completely covered in snow and there is no indication of activity there." The scout answered.

"What about the Muozinellan army?" one of the officers asked.

"They are camped about a league south of our current position. From what I was able to see, they have sentries every 3 dozen alsins in groups of two or three."

"So a surprise attack won't work…" Ellen said. "And no, Naruto, you may not go and cause havoc in there." She said to Naruto, who sulked. "True, you may be good at infiltration, but even you won't be able to get past the sentries. And what about inside the camp? What do you do if you are caught? Do you even know their language?"

"Then at least let me place some traps in their path." Naruto begged. He hadn't been able to pull a prank since the time he used his first ever original justu during the last battle…though that was more to shorten the battle than actually pulling a prank on them…

"And destroy an important trading route in the process…are you nuts?" Ellen asked.

Naruto slumped in defeat. They may not have been an official couple for long, but he was already missing the freedom he had before. Internally he was wondering if Tigre was faring any better with Lim.

On the Hill

Tigre and Lim were currently resting in each other's arms when Tigre suddenly sneezed, making Lim jump and reach for her sword.

"Someone must be talking crap about me…" he muttered. Lim sighed and they returned to their peaceful rest.

Back with Naruto

The officers would have laughed had they not been in a serious mood at the moment.

"So, my plan is this…" Ellen said, then began to outline her plan in great detail. Naruto meanwhile had already gone to sleep…at least the real Naruto was. He was already sleeping in the tent he shared with Ellen, dreaming of the variety of pranks he would pull on her for not letting him cause some mischief.

Meanwhile, in the SMA camp

Even though it was late, Olga was being a typical teenager and was still an active bundle of energy.

At the moment she was in a discussion with Roland, the two of them having become friends and Roland becoming more of a Father figure to her than a friend.

"So, when you fought that blond bastard, you managed to hurt him during the first fight, then got your ass handed to you during the second?" Olga asked.

"Indeed I did." Roland answered. "And am I correct in guessing that when you fought Naruto-san, he wiped the floor with you?"

"He did so many mean things to me during that fight…and I couldn't even land a single hit on him." Olga pouted and puffed her cheeks. Roland thought that the sight was very cute…she could definitely make even Ganelon think that she was cute with that face.

"You know, you shouldn't let your pride cloud your judgment." Roland told her. "Most people who meet Naruto away from the battlefield think of him as a clueless idiot with close to no common sense. But as you get to know him more, you realize just how wrong you were about him."

"What about the others?" Olga asked.

"Others?" Roland asked, confused.

"What about those that meet him on the battlefield?" Olga clarified.

"Ah…they meet a completely different person than the one we know." Roland said. Olga tilted her head to the side. "When I first met him on the battlefield, Naruto gave of an aura of a seasoned veteran who has seen much hardship in his life. At least that is the feeling I got during our first fight."

"And your second?" Olga asked, curious.

Roland shuddered slightly. "It was the closest thing I could imagine to facing a very powerful monster."

"A monster?" Olga asked.

"His KI was wrapping itself around him like a strong suit of armor and his eyes were completely devoid of light. Had he not shown mercy at the last moment, I would bet my life that he would have killed me." Roland said.

"So what…he is a monster AND a bastard?" Olga asked.

"If by bastard you mean a human, then yes." Roland chuckled.

For a moment there was silence between them.

"Ne, Old man Roland…" Olga began. "What is a real war like?"

"Hard to explain to someone who has never experienced it." Roland said, then began to gather his thoughts. "The closest thing I know that could compare to it would be hell."

"Hell?" Olga asked.

"In war, there is no such thing as compassion, kindness and peace. There is no fairness. There is only death and destruction." Roland said in a grave voice.

"Do you think the Bastard knows what a war is like?" Olga asked.

"Most likely." Roland said. "One does not become as powerful as he is simply by training." Roland looked at Olga. "I wouldn't be surprised if all he knew in his life was hardship."

"Sounds like I need to apologize to him about calling him a bastard." Olga said. Roland smiled at that, but Olga's next comment made him laugh.

"He is more of an Idiot than anything else."

With Naruto

Naruto woke up sneezing and wondered if he was getting hay fever.

The next day, early morning

The Mouzinellan army split up into 7 groups, with the divisions 1 to 4 preparing to assault the fortifications. Divisions 5 to 7 meanwhile would pursue the refugee column that was sighted retreating behind the hill.

Soon the cries of the wounded were heard all over the hill as the front ranks of the Mouzinellan divisions came under fire from archers and slingers.

Meanwhile the three divisions that were pursuing the refugees were slowly but steadily closing the distance between the two groups.

Suddenly the 5th division heard the thundering sound of charging horses and then saw the cause…

 _Flashback, the previous day_

 _Mila, Roland, Olga, Tigre and Lim were standing around a table with a map spread out on it._

 _"As it stands, there are three ways that Barbarossa will respond to our defenses." Mila said. The others looked at her as she lifted a finger._

 _"The first is that he will assault our defenses with his army. That is a common tactic everywhere and not one that Barbarossa uses very often." She lifted another finger._

 _"The second is one that he will most likely use tomorrow. He will divide his force and have one group assault our position whilst the other will probably try to flank us." Mila raised a third finger._

 _"The last one…will be problematic to us if he uses it." Mila lowered her hand. "If he decides to send his army around the second hill and then block of the road, we will be trapped here under siege."_

 _The others looked on at that._

 _"How can you be sure that he will use the second option?" Lim asked._

 _"Because he doesn't know the lay of the land as we do and he never doesn't do all or nothing battles." Mila told her. "At least that is what my spy in Muozinellan told me."_

 _"We may be able to entice him to go for a fourth option…" Tigre muttered._

 _"What was that?" Lim asked._

 _"Hmm? Oh, right. I was just thinking that we could ambush him…no…that won't work." Tigre said._

 _"Finish the sentence, Tigre-dono." Roland told him._

 _"I was thinking to send the refugees north and use them as bait for an ambush." Tigre said._

 _"And just how are we supposed to ambush them, Pinky?" Olga asked._

 _"The Idea isn't that bad to be honest." Mila said, having taken on a thinking pose. "Just it needs some changes."_

 _"Such as?" Lim asked._

 _"Well for one, the Ambush is going to be…"_

 _Flashback end_

"INCOMING CAVALRY!" the shout went through the Muozinellan ranks like a wildfire.

At the head of the charging cavalry was Mila and Tigre, the former using her Ice powers to freeze and shatter any incoming arrows from the Muozinellan archers whilst Tigre was picking out the officers with his deadly accuracy.

Thanks to a small rise in the terrain, the SMA cavalry managed to literally jump over the spears, causing chaos when the second rank of horses crashed into the bewildered spearmen.

Soon Mila became angry.

"Who is that short girl?" one of the enemies asked.

"She is short and pretty small…" another said.

"And yet, this small shit is making mincemeat out of us.

Amongst other things…

…It seems that the enemies have called Mila 'short' and 'small' a few too many times.

Even though he was within the enemy lines, Tigre continued sniping the enemy officers…and a few unfortunate soldiers who stood near them. And whenever he ran out f arrows, Gerard would throw him another quiver full of arrows.

"Aren't you afraid?" Mila asked at one point.

"If that is what you think, then you should protect me." Tigre said.

This surprised Mila for a moment, but she sighed in agreement.

News of the surprise attack reached Barbarossa who acknowledged Mila's talents in defensive warfare. He then ordered for the 6th division to surround Mila and Tigre whilst he and the 7th division would retreat for a short distance. Mainly because he had heard rumors of Tigre's archery skills.

He had also learned that the Fleeing refugees were actually Brunish and Zhcted soldiers disguised as peasants and that said 'peasants' were now rushing to join the fight as well.

Meanwhile, to the east of the Battlefield

A large army led by a white haired beauty and accompanied by a blond man happily running alongside her, was approaching the battlefield.

"How much further?" the man asked.

"About 2 miles." The female said. You can go ahead and see if you can…" she didn't finish because he was already sprinting ahead of them at break neck speed. "…make things problematic for the enemy." she finished. "HEY NARUTO! YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY!" she shouted.

Back at the battlefield

Tigre and Mila had been separated from the others and were fighting back to back.

And to make things worse, Tigre was about to run out of arrows for his bow.

He was about to shoot his last arrow when a loud war-cry echoed down the valley from the north.

Three brunish armies were charging in, shouting things like:

"Aid our fellow countrymen and those that fight with them."

"Drive off that pack of Muozinellan wolves!"

"Death to the slavers!"

With Barbarossa

"Reporting in. a large band of knights has arrived from the north and have engaged our forces." A Muozinellan scout said.

"A band of knights from the north?" Barbarossa said. "I thought they didn't have any more troops in ambush!"

"They appear to be enemy reinforcements." The scout clarified.

"Reinforcements?" Barbarossa wondered to himself.

With Tigre

Tigre was greeted by the three commanders of the reinforcements. Emile, leader of the Order of Perche, told him that on request by Mashas Rodant, he and 1,500 knights have come to aid him in repelling the invasion. Sheie, leader of the Order of Lutece, also arrived with 1,500 knights for the same reasons as Emile. Both requested to join in the fight under Tigre's command.

Tigre happily accepted both of their help.

But for Tigre, the biggest surprise of the day yet came in the presence of the third commander.

"I am Auguste, leader of the Order of Calvados." A large man with short, spiky black hair, beard and moustache said. His horse was also as heavily armored as he was. "I and my 2,000 knights are here to assist you, Sir Tigrevurmud."

"Auguste…" Tigre said in recognition.

"Well then, we had better go and join in on the hunt." Emile said.

"Happy hunting." Sheie added before the two of them rode off to join the fight.

Tigre turned back to Auguste.

"Do you remember me, Lord Tigre?" the large man asked.

"There is no way that I could forget you, is there?" Tigre answered.

"I, Auguste, having once served the House of Vorn, was chagrined that I could not help, given my position as a knight." Auguste began. "But then Sir Roland and Sir Olivier of the Order of Navarre sent me a letter telling me of you."

"Roland?" Tigre asked.

"Before his unfortunate demise at the hands of Ganelon he sent out letters to those he respects. He wrote that if you fight for Brune and its people, he wished for me to hasten to join you." Auguste said. "And when I heard the tale of what was happening now from Lord Mashas, I knew that I had to come and join you. The same goes for the orders of Perche and Lutece as well."

"Thank you, Auguste." Tigre said.

"Lord Tigre, you have grown into a fine man, just like Lord Urs." Auguste told him. "Well then…Hyah!" he spurred his horse into a gallop to catch up with his fellow commanders.

"You probably should have told him that Roland was still alive, you know." Mila said after having saved Tigre from an assailant.

"I was too busy remembering old times to do that." Tigre told her. Just then Gerard called over and threw a full quiver to him.

The SMA, together with the 5,000 knights slowly began to push the Muocinellan forces back. Until they were caught in the flank by a flanking maneuver.

This caused the Brune advance to grind to a halt.

With Barbarossa

"Reporting, 3,000 enemy reinforcements approaching from the northwest!" another scout reported.

"What? Again?" Barbarossa exclaimed.

With Tigre

Tigre and those around him felt their morale rising seeing both Mashas and Augre Hughes approaching with a large army of knights.

"Defend our people and our lands from the invaders!" they heard Mashas shout.

"Follow after Tigrevurmud Vorn!" Augre added his own shout.

With Barbarossa

"Send the 7th division and the flying column of the 4th to back up the 6th division." Barbarossa ordered.

"As you command." The scout said.

Back at the battle

With the arrival of the Muozinellan reinforcements the battle became a stalemate, with neither side gaining or losing ground.

Soon the ground was littered with the dead and the dying.

This stalemate was broken when Babarossa ordered the flying columns of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd divisions to flank the SMA main force. The SMA's flank began to crumble.

"TIGRE!" Mila shouted as she saw an enemy swordsman bash Tigre with his shield, throwing him onto the ground, but before she could rush to his side to help, she was intercepted by numerous enemy soldiers who blocked her way.

Tigre stared in defiance at the enemy soldier who had bashed him, only to turned surprised when an oddly familiar looking knife appeared in the man's throat.

"This is…" Tigre said, managing to place the knife's design.

Suddenly another war-cry was shouted and the sound of another fight opening reached his ears.

"Come on. Get up!" Mila shouted, having finally fought her way to his side.

As she was helping him to his feet, they were attacked from all directions by enemies, only for all of them to fall dead as more knives flew into them.

And suddenly the enemy near them was blown away by a powerful wind blast.

"Sorry that we are late." They heard a female say.

"Ellen!" Tigre said.

Mila opted to just sigh in relief. "You really are late, you know."

"Well sorry for that, but this guy…" Ellen grabbed a nearby Naruto by his ear and held him close, "…forgot in which direction he was going due to his excitement."

"I already said that I was sorry…" Naruto whined.

"It took me 20 minutes to catch up to you and that was only because you realized that you were going the wrong way." She scolded him.

The sight of the powerful shinobi being treated like a little child amused Mila to no end whatsoever.

Meanwhile Barbarossa had learned about the 4,000 or so additional reinforcements and realized that it may be better to call for a retreat.

All the while he was wondering where the hell all of those reinforcements were coming from.

Thus the Battle ended with Barbarossa admitting his defeat in that battle. He also sent a courier to Tigre who, gave a speech that made Tigre truly want to fall asleep. In the end it all came down to the fact that Barbarossa wished to bestow upon Tigre the Title of Silvrash.

After the (boring) speech, the tent was emptied of everyone except for Tigre and Mila. The courier, his delivery done, returned to the Muozinellan camp. Rurick and Lim were called to handle the captives. Naruto and Ellen left to go to the Leitmeritz camp, which would join up with the SMA camp the next day.

The commanders of the knightly orders went to get their men settled in…and to confirm that Roland was still very much alive, something that Mashas and Augre Hughes joined them with.

They ended up getting several nicknames curtsey of Olga…

Emile became 'Mr Dot Moustache', Sheie became 'Mr Angry face' (because she though the way his eyebrows slanted made him look angry), Auguste became 'Massy Brown Bush', Hughes and Augre, much to the mirth of everyone around, became 'White Old Man' and 'Grey Old Man' respectively. **(1)**

Well, when any of them tried protesting, Olga pouted and the men just couldn't resist her afterwards.

Sometime later

Ellen , having finished checking over the prisoners, returned to the command tent after finding that Tigre was not in their tent, only to see him sleeping on Mila, the latter of whom turned to look at Lim as she entered.

"Please…this is not what you think it is…" she began, but Lim was already reaching for her sword.

"You have 5 seconds to explain yourself." Lim said as she slooowly drew her sword.

"He fell asleep and I tried to catch him…well he fell on top of me." Mila hastily told her. "And do you mind giving me a hand here? He is heavier than he looks."

Suddenly Tigre mumbled something about Pillows needing to be bigger…

Let's just say that everyone was glad that Mila had left Lavias in her own tent.

 **(1): just look at the characters and think like a small kid would think.**

 **Chapter 17: Royalty…and more female troubles**

A few days after the battle

Tigre, Lim, Naruto, Ellen and Mila were currently catching up on what had happened to each of them.

Naruto and Ellen…well, mostly Ellen…were telling them about what happened after their battle, at which point Mila piped in.

"Oh, now that you mention that bit…is it true that you and Naruto went at it in a forest for 2 hours?" her voice sent shivers up even Naruto's spine.

"W-wh-what are you talking about?" Ellen stuttered, turning red.

"I just took her on a date." Naruto said at almost the same time.

Tigre and Lim were wondering what a 'date' was while Mila had somehow learned what it was.

"But it is said that you came out of the forest with a limp, Ellen." Mila continued.

Lim was starting to turn red now…as was Tigre. Ellen's face was a match to Tigre's hair.

"Let's be clear here." Naruto spoke up. "During the walk Ellen was bitten on the leg by a snake."

"And fortunately the snake was the type that only paralyzed the victim." Ellen added, face slowly returning to its original hue.

"I managed to suck out most of the poison, though a small amount remained in her leg, leading to her walking with a limp for the rest of the day." Naruto finished.

"Oh? Was that as far as you dared to go?" Mila asked, trying to make Naruto uncomfortable.

"Had we done it then and there, I would most likely been unable to walk afterwards." Ellen said, blushing.

Tigre and Lim were trying hard not to think about what would have happened if he did go further…

"A-anyway…" Lim said, trying to change the subject. "Eleonora-sama still is one up on you, Ludomila-sama."

"Huh? What do you mean?" the small bluenette asked.

"In this tent, you are the only one who isn't in a relationship with anyone." Lim said bluntly.

The red of Mila's face was a stark contrast to the blue of her hair.

"Why did you have to go and say that?" Tigre asked. "I am sure that there is someone out there who is perfect for her."

Lim looked at him with a deadpan expression. _'Spoilsport.'_ She thought.

Several days later

Over the last few days the SMA made its way from the southern borders back to its Head Quarters in Territoire.

When Tigre was busy with meeting and such, Titta made herself busy by helping in handing out supplies to the Refugees that accompanied the army, mainly because she wanted to help them, but a small part of her felt sympathy for them as soon after leaving the battlefield, Naruto had sent them and the orderly knights through what he calls and 'initiation'. Basically Naruto put some itching powder in everyone's clothes but what made it worse was that this itching powder didn't wash off with water…which had led to some…interesting…side effects…Titta had gone through hell because she had had an itch where she couldn't reach…and it wasn't on her back or on her skin for that matter…

The only reason as to why Naruto wasn't chased down and beat up was because he played an even worse prank on Ellen…he dyed her hair from pure white to alternating lines of red, blue and green…

And even if they had, they wouldn't have been able to catch him.

Anyway, Ellen refused to talk to him since then.

Now Naruto was busy working at the camp's forge, helping the blacksmiths with their work, but inside his subconscious, there was a wager being held.

Naruto's mindscape

Kushina and Minato were having a bet about who would crack first, Naruto or Ellen, with Kushina betting on Ellen and Minato betting on betting on Naurto. The stakes: the loosed had to clean the mindscape's kitchen that the two of them had made…for a week.

Back in the real world

Ellen was walking around her tent. After the prank Naruto played on her for 'Not letting him cause mischief amongst the Muozinellan camp' she went and got a tent for herself.

She was once again in a debate with herself about whether or not to just forgive Naruto for what he did. She had somehow managed to wash the paint out of her hair, but the memory of waking up with the multicolored hair still burned fiercely in her mind.

The part of her that wanted to forgive him was in a stalemate with the part of her that wanted nothing more to do with him…and both of those parts were also in a stalemate with the part that wanted to beat the shit out of Naruto before forgiving him…

Each part had negative points that counteracted the positive points of the other parts, and vica versa.

Unfortunately this three-way stalemate was slowly tearing Ellen's heart apart…and it was beginning to show on her face, the dark rings of sleep-deprivation around her eyes, the slouching movement of her limbs…and her dramatically shortened temper.

Meanwhile, in one of the officer's tents, Lim was having a discussion with Mashas and Augre.

"Forgive me for not being there during the main battle." Lim apologized to Mashas.

"Not at all. You were stationed at the barricades, so there wasn't much you could have done in any case." The old man replied.

"At any rate, the fact that others are recognizing that Tigre's undertaking is in the right is a great victory." Augre said.

"I agree." Mashas and Lim said.

"Tigre and Roland…the resolve of the living and the word of the formerly dead are what motivated them to gather here." Augre said. "I did nothing more than help facilitate it."

"At first I thought he was just a vulnerable, happy-go-lucky and lazy boy at first, but now…" Lim said.

"Right now, he is a third power within Brune." Augre said.

"As well as your lover, right.?" Mashas finished. Lim gave them a small smile at the words.

"Well now, how do you think Tigre will act next?" Mashas asked. Lim's smile grew.

At that moment , with Tigre

"Well then, if you will excuse me." A knight said as he and Tigre stood up and shook hands.

"Thank you very much." Tigre said.

"Tigre, you should come over to my camp." Mila said after Tigre sat back down. "I'll make some delicious tea to help relieve your stress and fatigue."

"Ho? When did you go from calling him Tigrevurmud to just Tigre?" Ellen asked.

Before Ellen could get an answer, Naruto walked in, giving her a brief and formal nod…and greeted the other two casually.

"Yo, Tigre, Potato."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A POTATO?" Mila screamed at him.

"Greetings Naruto. What can we do for you?" Tigre asked.

Naruto placed a scroll on the desk before him and unrolled it.

"This is a list of items that the Blacksmiths are short on currently." Naruto said.

Tigre looked at the list…then felt his eyebrow twitch.

"They need a new Anvil?" he asked.

"Yup." Naruto said whilst scratching the back of his head.

Tigre sighed and was strongly considering accepting Mila's proposal for tea.

"Alright, but just try not to break any more anvils and hafts." Tigre muttered.

"I'll try." Naruto said, before leaving.

Ellen wanted to go after him, but her legs refused to move.

Mila was about to talk again when Lim entered the tent. The sight of her friend made Ellen snap out of her paralysis.

"I'll leave things here to you, Lim." She said.

"Roger that." The blonde replied.

Ellen managed ten steps before the sounds of a verbal catfight erupted from the tent she had just left and through the open flaps she saw Tigre being used as a tug of war rope by the two females.

Shaking her head, she returned to walking, having finally decided to go and search for Naruto.

But first, she needed a change of clothes.

Shortly afterwards

The sun had set by the time she found him sitting on a hill overlooking the camp, strop in one hand and one of his short swords on his lap, with the second one lying on the ground next to him.

"Naruto…" she began.

He stopped honing the edge of his blade and looked up at her.

"Yes?" he said.

"I…I am sorry…" Ellen said.

"For what?" Naruto asked, returning to honing the edge.

"For ignoring you…these past few days." The more she spoke, the easier the words came to her.

"Think nothing of it." Naruto said.

"How can I think nothing of it?" Ellen asked. "I have been trying to hurt you emotionally."

"And I could care about that why?" Naruto asked.

Ellen was taken aback by the question…but completely misunderstood the reason for it.

"I…I…I am sorry." she turned to leave but stopped when she felt a hand grasping onto her wrist.

"I am not angry at you, Ellen." He said, looking up at her. "It is just that unlike me, you are not used to this type of emotional pain."

It took Ellen a while to understand his words.

Inside Naruto's mind two entities cleared their ears to listen in on the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Ellen asked.

"What I mean is I have learnt to forgive people rather than hold a grudge." Naruto told her.

"You mean you never held it against me?" she asked.

"Nope." Naruto said with his usual smile. Inside his head he heard grumbling.

 _"Naruto…why did you have to forgive her at the start?"_ he heard his mother moaning.

 _"I cannot believe I managed to have more luck than you for once."_ His father told his mother.

For a moment Naruto and Ellen remained silent. Naruto sheathed his short sword when he saw her sitting down next to him.

After a moment of silence she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder.

A few seconds later she felt his arm wrap around her shoulder and pulled her closer so he could rest his head on hers.

Suddenly Naruto jerked up and sniffed the air.

"Naruto…?" Ellen asked.

All she saw was Naruto with a massive grin on his face rush away at great speed. Immediately Ellen ran after him…but soon used Arifar to create a sphere of air behind her to give her an extra push.

 _'What in the world…?'_ she thought.

Moments earlier with Tigre & co.

Tigre was having his supper with Lim, Mila and Titta. Ellen and Naruto were who knows where and Rurick had challenged Gerard to a drinking contest.

"I am surprised that Naruto isn't here." Lim said.

"I agree with you there, but at least we can take our time eating." Titta said.

"Well with how tasty this ramen is, I can't really blame him for leaving only the empty pot behind." Tigre said.

None of the females could disagree with him on that one.

"What do you mean he leaves only the pot behind?" Mila asked.

"That…" Tigre began but a blur of motion caught all of their attention. In the time it took them to blink the pot had disappeared and reappeared on the lap of the Ramen Shinigami…and its contents were disappearing fast.

"That is what I mean." Tigre said. Mila could only nod, not fully understanding what was going on.

"Naruto…where are y…" Ellen appeared at the tent entrance. Upon seeing Naruto with the ramen pot on his lap, she heard her stomach growling.

"Hey, leave some for me…" She called over.

…but by then Naruto had already finished the ramen.

"Ahh, a snack of Ramen now and then really works wonders…" Naruto said.

Ellen, Tigre, Lim and Titta sighed. They were all thinking something akin to 'Speak of the devil and he shall come'.

Mila on the other hand…

"…YOU CALL THAT A SNACK?!" she roared

"Yep." Naruto answered, happy as ever. So happy in fact that he didn't notice the amount of KI being sent at him from the short Vanadis.

"You…" he only realized the danger when he heard her voice, "You call enough Ramen to feed 10 people…A FUCKING SNACK?!"

Naruto was surprised to feel his hair being pushed backwards slightly by the force of the shout.

 _'Is this how Kakashi sensei felt like whenever Sakura-chan and I shouted at him for being late?'_ Naruto asked himself.

"Give it up, Mila." Ellen muttered, preparing herself for a migraine she knew would come soon. "At times even I cannot understand him."

"This coming from his Ex…" Mila began only to immediately shut her mouth with an audible 'clack' when Ellen and, surprisingly, Naruto flooded the tent with KI. It was hard to detect, but the others were also adding in their KI.

"That is former Ex, you brat." Ellen growled out. All of Mila's instincts and even Lavias were telling her to GTFAFT **(i.e. Get The Fuck Away From There…there is also GTHAF [Get The Hell Away From There])**.

Unfortunately her muscles were paralyzed due to the amount of KI.

What followed could only be described as the worst night Mila has ever experienced…she would never understand how Naruto could make duplicates of himself, transform them into two burly men in green spandex suits…and then have them hug each other, whilst crying waterfalls **(1)** …And to top it all off, Naruto forced her to watch it over and over again.

Mila would later on swear that she felt her Dragon Gear shiver in fear as well.

The only consolidation she had was that Ellen and the others left on the third repeat, barely able to hold in their stomach contents…until on the fourth repeat Mila's stomach gave up trying to hold the food in…

In another tent some distance away

A young female with light blond hair and light blue eyes opened her eyes, determination clear on her face. She would approach him soon with her request…

Timeskip, about a week later, morning

Fearing that their presence would result in either Ganelon or Thenardier attacking Territoire, Tigre decided to move the HQ of the SMA. The leader of the Knightly Order of Perche, Emile, offered them a hiding spot in Fort Perche, their own HQ.

Bertrand was busy helping to clean some of the stored equipment when he was approached by a young female with blond hair (etc.).

Meanwhile in a room in the nearby castle

A purple portal appeared in mid air near the queen sized bed at the centre of the room. Out of the portal appeared a purple clad, scythe wielding, well developed female.

She smiled and reached out to move some of the sleeping persons hair from his face, only for said person to turn around and grab at something…which just so happened to be her left breast…and also gave a few experimental squeezes. The female, Valentina, covered her mouth to prevent any involuntary moans to escape, could not forcefully remove his hand in case she woke him up.

Thankfully his hand didn't stay long and she breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Before she could say anything though…

"…Lim's are much bigger…and better…" the person mumbled in his sleep.

Valentina felt a tick-mark appear on her temple and had to resist the urge to kill the man for his comment…mainly because she had secretly enjoyed his fondling her breast, only for him to say he preferred someone else's over hers…

"If you had been awake, you'd be executed for lese majeste, Tigrevurmud Vorn-san." Valentina said. "Well then, I will see you again sometime, hero." She opened another portal and hopped through.

Moments later there was a knock on the door, and Titta called for Tigre to wake up.

Sometime later

 **(2)**

"Prince Regnas?" Mila asked. "But didn't you slay him at Dinant?"

"I don't know. It isn't as though anyone took his head, after all." Ellen retorted.

Regin could feel the eyes upon her.

"It is okay. If you trust me, you can trust them as well, despite your apparent history." Tigre said.

Ellen puffed out her chest in happiness whilst Mila just looked deadpanned. Lim had a 'Not-This-Again' look on her face. Naruto wasn't really paying attention…

Soon everyone was seated at the table, waiting for Regin to begin explaining.

"In the confusion of the night raid, I was attacked by an assassin." Regin began. "On the battlefield, anything can get you passed off as falling in battle."

"Why were you posing as a boy in the first place, anyway?" Ellen asked.

"For me and my mother's sake." Regin's face saddened. "In Brune, a queen who bears only daughters is scorned. What's more, the odds of a queen succeeding the throne are extremely low at best."

"So you represented yourself as a prince?" Mila asked. "That's quite a brash move to make."

"That is for sure." Ellen agreed… "That might have been fine at the time, but what would you have done if you'd developed breasts like Lim?" …for a completely different reason.

Everyone minus Ellen looked at Lim's breasts, then sighed…though Tigre's sigh was more of a 'What is wrong with her breasts' sigh, Lim's was a 'Not this again' sigh and Mila's was a 'Don't you dare remind me of the size difference' sigh…Naruto's sigh was one on plain boredom.

"I am more surprised that your disguise worked for so long." Lim said.

"That is actually the hardest part." Naruto said before Regin could say anything. The others, including Mashas looked at him.

"'The best way to fool an enemy is to fool your comrades.'" Naruto began. "If your comrades underestimate you, the probability that your enemy does so as well is exponentially greater."

"Another lesson your mentor taught you?" Ellen asked in a deadpan voice.

"And one that I am playing even now." Naruto yawned. "If I may ask, Regin-chan, what was your first impression of me?"

"An idiot who carries himself with a powerful aura and whose eyes show a lifetime of hardship." Regin said bluntly, causing Naruto to hang his head at being called an idiot…again.

The females meanwhile were giggling, both at his reaction and at Regin's words.

"You are not fooling her in any way, Naruto." Ellen said.

"Not you too…" Naruto half whined.

"But, you are MY idiot." Ellen said, moving her chair next to his and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Eleonora-sama…we are still at a formal meeting." Lim said stoically.

"Since when?" Mila asked. "All sense of formality is gone out of the window the moment Naruto walks in through the door."

"Oi." Naruto protested…only to be completely ignored.

"True that, though Ellen, formal or not, this is still a meeting." Tigre said.

"Back to the subject at hand then…" Ellen said, disappointment clear in her voice. "What should we do, Tigre?"

"Huh?" Tigre looked at her.

"Frankly, she'd going to hamper us." Mila added. Tigre looked between her and Regin, who had a sad look on her face.

"'The Prince is alive and is being threatened by Thenardier and Ganelon.' That is what we could claim." Ellen began, leaning forward. "When the people find out that the prince is a girl, far from having them believe us…"

"…it would be like playing straight into Ganelon and Thenardier's hands." Naruto said. "That does not mean that we don't have to look into her story."

"And with the state His Majesty is in, I doubt we fill have an opportunity to learn anything from that end." Mashas said. When Regin asked what was wrong with her father, he explained to her his condition.

"But…why come to me?" Tigre asked.

"Because you do not have any underlying motives." She said after a short pause. "Under the circumstances, when you were even branded a traitor, you had nothing to gain by helping the population in the southlands." Even Naruto was listening in on her words. "And yet, you desperately fought for them. What's more…when you granted my request, you were kind to me."

"What request was this?" Lim asked, having a feeling that she was not going to like the answer.

The blush on Regin's face didn't help much. "The other day, I asked him to bathe me."

Tigre remembered that event.

"You Dog." Naruto said to Tigre.

"T-I-G-R-E…" Lim growled out. Tigre went very pale at that and gulped.

"You like playing dangerous games, don't you?" Ellen asked, not noticing her best friends' action. "If Tigre had taken advantage of you, were you planning to leave without saying a word?"

"I realize it was craven of me, but at that time I couldn't think of anything else to do to test him." Regin said, blushing even harder.

'Hey, Mom, Dad…what do you think of all this?' Naruto asked mentally.

'She has a thing for that Pink-haired-guy/Tigre!' came the simultaneous answer.

"Ellen…" Naruto whispered. "I think Lim has competition."

"You think so?" she whispered back.

"Why else would she ask him to help her bathe?" Naruto asked. "I didn't know that Tigre was such a dog."

Ellen had to suppress a laugh at that. "Lim is not going to like this."

Tigre meanwhile had regained his composure.

"Regin, do you…that is…is there any way you can prove that you are His Majesty's child?" he asked.

After a moment, Regin said one word. "Lutetia."

Everyone, minus Naruto, was shocked.

"Duke Ganelon's territory?" Mashas asked.

"Lutetia's capital of Artesium…" Regin began. "Under it, there is a door that can be opened in a way that is only taught to the royal family. This is something that the prime minister, Badouin, also knows."

After a moment of thought, Tigre stood up. Everyone looked at him, waiting for his answer.

"Let's go. To Artesium." He declared.

And before anyone could agree or disagree the doors were thrown open.

"Breezy-onee-chan! Boobi-nee-chan!" a small girl in pink walked in, followed by a giant (compared to her) in black armor.

"Olga." Ellen said. Lim was blushing at the nickname that Olga had coined for her long ago.

"I have been for youaaAAAAH!" Olga suddenly screamed when she saw Naruto. "What is the Blonde Idiot doing here?"

Naruto twitched at her name for him, tick-marks appearing on his head.

But he was immediately forgotten by Olga.

"I am returning to Zhcted. It is almost time for the Nomads to come and trade with us." Olga said. Therefore I'll be leaving Big-Man-Roland in your care. Please look after him."

Roland and everyone sweat dropped at her treating Roland as her subordinate.

After she had left and the doors had closed, Naruto looked at him.

"I pity you man. I should have told you that women are scary." He said. Roland could only nod in agreement.

 **(1): Basically, Lee and Guy during one of their youthful hug moments…**

 **(2): the meeting between Mashas, Lim and Tigre as well as the revelation from Princess Regin are as in the anime…if you don't know how that went, watch the anime (The meeting is in episode 11)…**

 **Chapter 19: I am back, dattebayo**

At another location

The ground was shaking and the sounds of chains clacking could be heard for hundreds of Alsins in all directions.

"Thank you for waiting for so long, Your Highness." A old man in a white cloak and cape said.

"It looks like you've brought me more than I was expecting." Thenardier said, walking towards him.

Before them were 5 massive dragons, 3 Bronze earth dragons, 1 fire dragon and one dual headed dragon that towered above the others.

The two larger dragons had thick chains attached to their bodies.

"What are these chains?" Thenardier asked.

"I had them specially made. These Dragons should be able to chew up and spit out a war maiden with ease now." The old man said.

"Well done." Thenardier said with a face that could only be described as scary, happy and pleased at the same time.

At that moment in Artesium

Ganelon was busy deliberating his next move. Thanks to his mastery over the dark arts, he knew about the dragons and about Tigre association with Regin, Ellen and Mila joining Tigre and Roland's unexpected survival.

He looked into his seeing orb again and mused to himself. Placing chess figures on a map before him, he pointed out the different factions. He deliberately placed a toppled black Pawn piece near the Capital with an upright red Rook directly on the city. Meanwhile he placed a white knight and white queen near Fort Perche.

He placed several other figures around the map, Blue figures indicating the knightly orders and those nobles who are still neutral, Red Figures indicating those aligned with Thenardier, Black for those on his side and White for those aligned with Tigre.

"Now, the only thing I don't know is what that Naruto guy will do…" Ganelon mused. He had only recently begun taking notice of Naruto and as of yet didn't know much of his fighting prowess. Indeed the first time he had heard of Naruto was when a report of the Battle of the Orange plains arrived. By then however Naruto was out of his scrying range.

"Well, whatever. Even if he makes an unexpected move, there is nothing he can do now." Ganelon said. "That Vorn will die alongside his War Maiden Allies."

Timelapse

As Ganelon had predicted, his army was literally smashed by Thenardiers forces. A few days later Artesium was burned to the ground by Ganelons own hand in an effort to hide his own escape.

Thenardier mustered his forces and headed to cut off the SMA before they reached the Royal Grotto underneath Artesium.

Meanwhile in Zhcted, Sofy was being ordered by the Zhcted King to have Ellen and Mila return to Zhcted by royal decree.

Back in Brune, The SMA and Thenardiers forces faced off on the Villecresnes Plains near Artesium.

(Timelapse end)

The SMA, numbering around 25,000 strong **(1)** faced off against Thenardiers army of 30,000.

Most Commanders would say that Thenardier had the clear advantage, but in reality, both sides were more or less evenly matched…at least that is what was believed by Thenardier and the commanders of the SMA.

Thenardier's army included 5 dragons and numbers whilst the SMA had 2 War Maidens and some of the best trained soldiers in both Brune and Zhcted on their side.

The Battlefield was separated into three individual engagements. The central engagement was by far the largest with smaller, but no less furious engagements being fought on the flanks.

Tigre led the central division and Rurick had the right flank. Ellen and Mila initially led the left flank, but broke through their lines in order to engage the biggest threat to the SMA: the dragons.

That left Lim in charge of the left flank, not that it made much difference in the current situation…the command was just handed from one battle-savvy female to another.

And then there is Naruto who had fought his way deep into the enemy lines, wielding his dual short swords due to the confined space. In short he was doing what he does best…getting in trouble and usually causing more and finishing off with somehow finding a way to get his ass out of the mess.

Tigre meanwhile was living up to the Title given to him by Barbarossa with deadly accuracy.

Rurick was having another competition with Gerard…namely who can defeat the most opponents.

Roland on the other hand was having it easy…with his 'death' having gone public, his presence on the battlefield made all the superstitious enemy soldiers back away, believing they were facing the wrath of a ghost. Those that did manage to overcome their fear (of ghost that is) were commended by him…only instead of pride welling up they got more pale…Roland would later discover a seal on his throat that makes his voice have a slight whispering echo to it.

With Naruto

Naruto was not having a good day. Why? In his head his parents were bickering about how far Naruto should go with his relationship with Ellen…and had been doing so since the previous day, meaning he didn't get much sleep. The fact that his mother was in angry mode did not help at all as Ellen, even though she was in his mindscape, had felt Kushina's KI when they slept that night.

Fending off yet another pair of swords simultaneously, Naruto began talking.

"Guys…seriously…it is clear that none of you will manage to defeat me, so why don't you just give up? I promise that I will make sure that you are treated fairly." He said.

"Screw that!" several of the soldiers around him shouted, though he could see that a few were considering taking his offer.

"True, you have managed to defeat dozens of us, but we are a fucking lot, and there is only one of you…" a soldier, an officer by the looks of his armor, shouted. He was cut off by numerous 'poofs' and suddenly there were 10 Narutos standing before them. 9 of them disappeared in clouds of smoke as the real Naruto closed his eyes. The instant he did, he felt something around him that he hadn't felt in a long time.

 _'This…this is…'_ he thought in surprise, not seeing the effects his " _Harem Jutsu_ " had on the soldiers. His surprise also managed to snap his parents out of their argument.

 _"Naruto…this feeling…is it what I think it is?"_ Minato asked.

"Yeah…it is, dattebayo." Naruto said out loud.

"Hey Boss, how long are you going to stand there talking to yourself?" he heard one of his clones call out.

"Ah sorry." He said, opening his eyes. All around him he saw bodies of enemy soldiers, most if not all of them with grins that reminded him of…

"These guys…is it just me, or do they resemble Ero-Sennin when he visits the Onsen?" Clone#1 asked.

"You are right…they do indeed look like him." Clone#2 said.

"Let us just be glad that they are not him then." Naruto said.

"Why?" Clone#3 asked.

"Did we ever manage to KO Ero-Sennin with this jutsu?" Clone#4 told them.

They all shivered at a certain memory of when they tried that…

 _Flashback, 1 year before returning to Konoha_

 _"Alright Naruto, let's see how far you have gotten." Jiraya told the 14 year old Naruto._

 _"With Pleasure." Naruto said. "Today I will defeat you."_

 _"We will see about that." Jiraya said with a smirk._

 _20 minutes later_

 _Naruto managed to hold out against Jiraya longer than Jiraya had expected._

 _"You sure have grown a lot, Naruto." The old man said._

 _"I am still getting started." Naruto told him, making numerous shadow clones that surrounded Jiraya._

 _"Henge!" they all shouted and Jiraya was momentarily blinded by smoke._

 _"Ero-Sennin…" he suddenly heard a vulpine voice next to him…followed by numerous identical voices converging on him._

 _"NOW THIS IS AWESOME!" Jiraya shouted as out of the smoke came a group of butt naked Naruko's._

 _Jiraya suddenly disappeared and one of the clone Narukos suddenly cried out as Jiraya had appeared before her and was measuring *coughgropingcough* her breasts. Moments later Jiraya made a couple of clones that started…measuring…the other Narukos._

 _Through some odd method another Jiraya was managing to scribble down Naruko's three sizes (and various other notes…) into a notebook._

 _All this happened within 4 seconds, at which point the Naruko's started retaliating with extreme female prejudice. Half of the Jiraya clones got smacked so hard, had they gone under an X-ray immediately afterwards, the doctors would have found a hand-shaped fracture on his skull. The rest of the clones plus the original Jiraya received critical hits to their balls, curtsey of certain knee caps._

 _Flashback end_

"Just remembering makes me almost pull a Hinata…" Naruto said.

After 'winning' that spar, Jiraya demanded a rematch but Naruto denied it, not wanting to experience THAT again.

The only consolidation Naruto felt from that spar was that he managed to land a critical on Jiraya and that the one scribbling notes had been a clone, meaning that the notes themselves were not returned to the original.

"Let's…just get back to fighting, shall we?" Clone#5 said. The other Narutos agreed and the steamrolling continued.

Midday, after the battle ended

A bandaged Ellen and Mila were sitting together with Tigre, Lim, Naruto, Mashas, Roland and Regin talking about what happened during their fight with the dragons.

"The Dragon's chains…those are probably what cancelled out our dragon arts." Ellen explained.

"Cancelled out?" Lim asked.

"The same was true for your Durandal, Roland." Ellen said, looking at the black knight. "There must be some metal in this world that our dragon arts are ineffective against."

"So in other words you two are screwed?" Naruto said, earning him a glare from Lim, Ellen and Mila. "What?"

"Do you want me to shove an icicle up your ass?" Mila asked.

"He has a point. With your injuries, neither of you will be able to fight the dragons in the next battle." Mashas said.

"True. With Ellen receiving the brunt of that flame attack and Mila being knocked around like a yarn-ball…" Roland agreed. "To be honest, I don't see how the two of you can go up against these two dragons again and survive."

"Which begs the question…how do we take care of them?" Tigre asked. "One solution would be with my bow…but I have no Idea what it will do to me."

"The dragons can be defeated with conventional weapons, but the loss of life will be…" Lim began.

"I'll do it." Naruto interrupted her. The others looked at him in surprise. "I will take on the dragons."

"Naruto, don't…" Ellen began, but was interrupted by Naruto.

"Ellen. I know you want me to remain safe, but I am sure that by now you know all too well that I am strong enough to fend for myself." Naruto told her. "All this time I have been holding back my full strength for the same reason why you don't use your dragons arts against normal humans."

He turned back to the others. "I am going to prepare myself for the next battle. Please make sure that these two troublemakers don't do anything stupid."

"That is rich coming from you, Naruto-dono." Mashas chuckled. "At least they don't go around causing trouble wherever they go."

"Oi." Naruto retorted. "I cannot help it if Trouble keeps on following me."

"I doubt that." Regin said, suppressing a giggle. "I personally have never heard of a person called trouble."

"And even if there were, Ellen would make mincemeat out of that person if he/she were following you." Mila added, smirking. The others added various comments that made Naruto feel very uncomfortable.

Eventually he just stormed off.

"Ahh, revenge is sweet." Mila said.

"I didn't want to bring this up in front of him, but he is right." Roland said.

"What do you mean?" Ellen asked.

"He is indeed holding back on his full strength." Roland clarified. "During both of our fights I had the feeling that there was more to him than just the person we all know."

"Indeed…the only time I have seen him get wounded during a fight was that one time when he fought against Roland." Tigre said.

Silence permeated the group as they thought about the words that had been spoken.

"I have a feeling that the number of things we don't know about him will just grow from here on out." Lim said.

"That would be an understatement." Mila told her.

While they then went about discussing tactics for the next battle, Naruto meanwhile was once again sitting alone on a hill, though this time he wasn't honing the edge of his blades.

He first wanted to confirm something first before anything else…and soon realized that he had gotten rusty in the method needed to confirm it.

"Well, at least I know know I can still use it." Naruto muttered after a while.

 _"And now you can use THAT jutsu again without repercussions."_ His father said.

 _"Just try not to change the landscape too much."_ His mother added.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto said. _'Whatever…'_

"I think that there is also something that I will need before going to battle." Naruto said as he stood up.

 _"What?"_ both his parents asked.

"A cloak." Naruto simply said.

Sometime later

The second battle began in pretty much the same way the first one did, with the only difference being that instead of Ellen and Mila bulldozing their way through the enemy's left flank, Naruto did the bulldozing…right through the middle.

Naruto actually chuckled when he saw the looks on the soldier's faces when he said that he was going to do that.

Now he was standing before the two remaining dragons, looking at each of them.

"You know, where I come from, reptiles are often turned into handbags." Naruto said out loud. "Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who is tall enough to be able to carry a handbag that is made from your hides."

The dragons roared and charged. The fire dragon opened its mouth and spat fire at Naruto, who had remained relatively motionless for a while now.

With Thenardier

"What a fool." Thenardier said, seeing the lone figure engulfed in flames.

With Ellen

"NARUTO!" Ellen screamed, fearing for her lover's life.

Her shout made everyone in the vicinity, enemy and ally alike, look first at her, then at the roaring inferno.

"I know I am not supposed to say this, but I pity that guy, if there is anything left of him." An enemy soldier said, genuine pity in his voice. Several others agreed with him.

A sudden burst of power swept over them, momentarily stopping all of the fighting.

With Naruto

"Is this it?" Naruto asked. "That teme Sasuke can make hotter flames than that one."

Suddenly a tornado erupted from within the pillar of flames, pushing the fire away from its epicenter.

With Ellen

"What the…" Ellen gasped in shock. Mila mirrored her expression. They saw the tornado and could tell that it, although of very powerful, was still on par with some of Arifar's attacks.

"Since when can that guy do that?" Mila asked.

Back with Naruto

The tornado disappeared, leaving behind a completely unharmed Naruto, red cloak being whipped around in the residual wind.

"I guess this means it is my turn." He said and began approaching the dragons, first at a walk, then gradually speeding up to a full sprint.

Jumping onto the fire dragon, he stabbed one of his short swords through its thick hide, but noticed that the wound was not deep enough.

The dragon retaliated by turning and trying to spit more flames onto him, but he easily dodged.

He didn't manage to dodge the head butt from one of the heads of the two headed dragon though, which sent him crashing into the ground, leaving a crater behind.

"Thanks for that." Naruto said, standing up. "That fixed up an old pain I had in my neck. Think you can help me out with the one in my knee?"

The dragons roared and charged once again.

Sheathing his short swords, Naruto reached up and grabbed the handle of his Katana, drawing it slowly, before once again attacking the fire dragon, this time, charging right through its flames and stabbing it in the chest, making a huge amount of some oily substance spill out.

Naruto then jumped up into the air and stabbed the dragon in the head, making the dragon on instinct ignite the remaining oil in its mouth, then fall into the puddle of oil beneath it.

"Hmm…Flame grilled Giant Lizard…wonder what it tastes like." Naruto wondered. "Ah who cares… Nothing tastes worse than Sakura-chan's cooking."

In hundreds of Naruto AU's and Timelines, a certain pink haired girl sneezed, then proceeded to through a tantrum, often resulting in building or two being destroyed.

"Now, what to do with you…" Naruto turned his attention to the remaining dragon, which let out a loud roar. "Ah, I know. You are a big brute, so why don't I take you down with a big show?"

Naruto made two clones and began forming first a rasengan, the adding his wind chakra to it.

With Ellen

"What…what is that?" Ellen stuttered. In Naruto's hand she saw a white sphere similar in appearance to her Ley Admos, except that this one felt far more powerful, with 4 blades spinning at extreme speeds. Even though she was quite a distance away, she could hear the screech of the technique.

"Ellen…what is he doing?" Mila asked.

"I…I don't know…" Ellen said. "He…I have never seen him do anything like it before."

With Thenardier

"What the…" the old man asked himself. "Does he also possess a wind type dragon gear?"

With Naruto

 _"I am feeling jealous right now."_ Naruto heard his father say.

 _'Why is that?'_ Naruto asked.

 _"You managed to complete the jutsu that I created."_ Minato said. _"But I agree with its name,…"_

" _Futon: Rasenshuriken._ " Naruto said out loud, before throwing the mass of chakra and wind at the dragon.

With Thenardier

"Nice try, but Dragon arts don't work on…" his words were cut short by what followed.

With Ellen

Ellen felt Arifar shiver in her hand, indicating that the attack that Naruto threw was extremely dangerous.

And she found it difficult to disagree when seconds later…

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" Mila screamed as the ground shook due to a massive explosion that engulfed the huge dragon.

With Naruto

Naruto remained standing where he was and watched the huge dome of razor wind do its job. Already he could see the dragon's tough scales being destroyed and blood come gushing out, only to be shredded by more wind blades.

"Ok, maybe I should have held back a bit." Naruto said. "Now I won't be able to make a handbag out of it."

 _"I though those are only made out of crocodiles or alligators."_ Minato said.

 _'Nah. Some of the more expensive ones are made from snake and lizard skins.'_ Naruto told them.

 _"I thought snake skins were used to make purses."_ Kushina said.

 _'…same thing.'_ Naruto thought.

He turned his attention back to the dome which had run its course and was slowly dissipating, leaving the dead corpse of the dragon hanging in mid air over a huge crater, before falling down with a earth shaking crash.

"Well, now that that is done, I feel like having some Ramen." Naruto said as he walked away from the dead dragon and headed straight for Ellen. Needless to say, as he approached, the enemy soldiers wisely decided to give him a very wide berth.

Fortunately for Naruto, nobody had physically seen his facial markings during his fight just now…otherwise he'd have to explain to Ellen his Sage powers.

Somewhere else

"Most interesting…for him to hold such power…" Ganelon said to himself whilst watching Naruto through his orb. "It seems as though the markings on his face indicate that he is using his full power…interesting…"

That evening

Ellen and Naruto were out on another 'Date' in the nearby woods. Currently they were sitting in a clearing and watching the stars.

"Naruto…" Ellen muttered. "I need you."

Naruto looked at her, not quite understanding the words…until some fear-inspiring help from his mother made him realize what she meant.

"Are you sure you are up for it?" He asked, gently touching her back.

"The wounds don't really hurt that much." Ellen said, moving to sit on his lap, facing him.

Before he could respond, Ellen took his hand and placed it on her breasts.

Acting more on instinct than on anything else, Naruto gave a squeeze, making Ellen moan, before going further than hands-on-clothes…

An hour later, the SMA camp

A group of red faced sentries marched back into camp, drawing the attention of everyone still awake.

At first they were too embarrassed to explain what they had seen, but eventually the entire camp was roused with the news that Naruto and Ellen were going at it like animals in heat.

Many people had just 2 words to say: "Fucking Finally!"

Now they could truly get payback on Naruto for all the pranks he constantly plays on them.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Zhcted

A big breasted woman was sitting on a throne like chair next to a table with a glass orb on it. Leaning against the chair was a large scythe.

Valentina was busy scrying, specifically trying to learn things about Naruto.

"Oh my…he sure had a lot of meat there…" she giggled, getting slightly aroused. "I wonder if I can convince Ellen to let me…borrow…him for a night…"

 **(1): remember I increased their numbers during the Muozinellan campaign…**

 **AND DONE…FINALLY. Once again I am sorry that it took so long, but between my studies and assignments, there is not much time that I can devote to writing.**

 **And for those of you who were looking forward to a Lemon, please forgive me. I have tried writing a Lemon in this fic, but felt uncomfortable doing so.**

 **Omake:** Ellen meets Naruto's Parents

Ellen did not know how she got there. One moment she was sitting with Naruto in their tent, the next she found herself in a dimly lit sewer.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice echoing through the tunnels.

"You don't have to shout so loud, Ellen-chan." A voice next to her spoke up, making her jump in fright.

Next to her was Naruto, standing on top of the water, holding his hands to his ears.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I have no idea. The last thing I remember was having supper with you in our tent." Ellen said. "Do you have any idea where we are?" she asked after looking around for a bit.

"What does it look like?" he asked.

"A sewer." Ellen deadpanned, only to be surprised when he hung his head.

"This is my mindscape." He said. "Years of being treated as trash created this appearance. There is nothing I can do about it."

"…sorry…" she said, feeling bad for saying that.

He suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Well, as you are here, want to come and meet my parents?" he asked.

"Huh?" she was confused. His parents?

Before she could say anything more, she found herself in a large cavern with a house standing in the middle of it.

"I'm home." Naruto called out as he opened the door.

"Ah, Sochi…welcome back." They heard a female call from the living room.

"Ah, welcome back, Naruto." This one a male voice coming from the kitchen.

"Oh…and who is this?" Ellen turned to see a beautiful redhead standing in a doorway ahead and to the right.

"Hey mom. This is Ellen…" Naruto began, but a sudden burst of KI from the woman shut him up.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NO GIRLFRIENDS ALLOWED UNTIL YOU ARE 18!" she shouted, hair floating behind her in 9 individual bundles.

Behind Naruto, Ellen was starting to sweat.

"Hey, Kushina, don't traumatize him." A man with a very close resemblance to Naruto walked out of another door wearing a kitchen apron. "Besides, we both agreed to lower that number to 16."

Immediately the KI disappeared and Kushina's hair returned to normal as though it had never moved.

"Uhm, Naruto…who are these people?" Ellen asked.

"Ah, right. Ellen, meet my Parents, Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze and Minato Namikaze." He said, indicating his mother and father respectively.

"Don't worry about my wife. She has a few quirks." Minato said.

"That is rich coming from someone who was the most feared man in the elemental nations and who spends his free time in the kitchen." Kushina shot back.

"Uhm…Naruto…pinch me…Am I dreaming?" Ellen asked.


	7. Chapter 19 - Epilog

**Greetings to all readers who have read this far…or just skipped a few of the previous chapters…  
Sorry…I was in a bit of a rush to finish this upload so it turned out to be shorter than expected…**

 **Comments/answers to reviews:**

 **Alex2909:** I had to let him let loose at some point, right?

 **wolf191000:** Hope you had a good laugh.

 **Sageofchaos:** Unfortunately this next chapter bundle will be the last. :'( but don't worry…there are going to be more stories done by me in the future.

 **Daemon of Crawling Tentacles:** Unlike that mecha geek from Knight's  & Magic, Naturo at least knows when others have a crush on him…to the extent that is is still debatable…

 **Jose19:** …

 **Chapter 20: Farewell, Old Friend**

Next day, near the SMA camp

Ellen, Lim, Regin, Titta and Mila were currently bathing in one of the natural springs found in the area.

"Lady Eleonora, are you all right?" Lim asked. "From the rumors you and Naruto were pretty wild at it last night in the woods…"

"Yeah. Thanks to the medics my back is mostly healed." Ellen said. "With Thenardier's army retreating, I can take it easier for a while and recuperate fully." Ellen turned to her friend. "But all that aside, Lim, have your breasts grown again?" …getting revenge for being reminded of the number of humiliating questions she and Naruto faced after returning from their date the previous evening.

"W-wh-what are you saying?" Lim stuttered. She had a bad feeling about this…

"Wow…" "They really are big…no…huge…"

Titta and Regin made the comments respectively.

"Has Tigre been playing with them every night since you two hooked up?" Ellen asked, approaching her friend with groping hands.

"Hiii?" Lim squeaked, trying to back away, only to walk into the boulder she was leaning against the whole time.

"Titta, Regin, help me out here." Ellen said before pouncing.

Meanwhile Mila was standing to the side, facing away from the now-turning-rowdy crowd, bright red in the face and extremely self-conscious about her own chest size.

 _'Does having the one you like/love massaging/groping your Tits/Boobs really make them grow?'_ she thought. _'I wish Tigre would…help me out…if that is true…'_

It was difficult to see, but Mila's blush increased at that.

Some 100 alsins away

Tigre and Naruto were dozing off beneath a tree, enjoying the sunlight…and listening to the commotion going on in the hot spring.

"You sure you don't want to go and save your girlfriend?" Naruto asked, half asleep.

"Nah. I value my life, thank you very much. Besides, from what Lim told me, this is Ellen in a playful mood." Tigre answered, also half asleep.

"Hard to argue with you there." Naruto yawned. "But really, do you grope Lim's chest the whole time?"

"Nope. I use them as pillows at night. They are so comfortable." Tigre answered.

"And at the same time she is your alarm clock…" Naruto added. "Titta came up to me yesterday morning, asking me if there was anything wrong with you, you know."

"Really?" Tigre asked, snapping out of his doze.

"Yep. She said that you were awake uncharacteristically early on numerous occasions for the past several weeks. She was beginning to wonder if you had found yourself a doppelganger or something." Naruto yawned again.

"I guess you could say that if I go to sleep with Lim I find it hard not to sleep without 'em." Tigre said, embarrassed.

"Ah…makes sense…" Naruto said.

"Really?"

"Nope." Naruto answered Tigre's question immediately.

"What about you and Ellen?" Tigre asked.

"She uses me as a body pillow and hugs like a bear." Naruto said. "This one time I had to make a clone and replaced myself with it. Moments later the clone dispelled itself because she was hugging it so hard."

"That…is an astonishing amount of power…" Tigre said. He was just glad that he hadn't ended up with Ellen instead…

 _'You call THAT power? Boy, you have not met Granny Tsunade or Sakura…'_ Naruto thought, before the two of them dozed off again.

Next day, morning

The girls were walking to Tigre's tent after spending the morning in a nearby village, where the Zhcted individuals learned that Brune had about as many types of cheese as there were Brune villages.

Upon entering the tent, they were met by the sight of Tigre still sleeping…on the floor.

"He fell asleep before even reaching the tent." Regin said. "You guys were right…he really does look cute when he is sleeping."

"True and I wish we could let him continue sleeping, but right now that is out of the question." Ellen said.

"True that." Titta agreed.

"Now, how on earth do we wake him up?" Ellen asked.

The other girls made faces that showed their deep concentration.

"Huh?" Well, except for Regin that is.

"Waking him up is a mission and a half. Earlier we used to wake him up by putting a sword in his mouth, but Titta stopped that." Ellen explained.

"Because if you cut him in the mouth, he won't be able to eat the breakfast I keep on making for him." Titta protested.

Regin was debating whether or not she was amongst normal people.

For a moment they continued looking at Tigre, thinking of ways they could wake him up.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" they heard a voice. Turning, they saw Naruto standing behind them, pot of Ramen in hand.

"We are talking about how to wake this guy up." Ellen said.

"Eh? That is actually the easy part. Lim, come here quickly." Naruto whispered several instruction into her ear.

"You sure that this will work?" Lim asked.

"If it doesn't, I will stop eating ramen for a week." Naruto said.

"You are THAT confidant?" Titta, Ellen, Lim and Mila asked in a deadpan voice.

"Should I make it a month?" Naruto asked back.

 _'Well, I always knew that Naruto-san was crazy…'_ Regin thought.

"Titta, hold this for me please." Lim said, handing Titta her sword.

Kneeling over Tigre, Lim suddenly let out a large mass of KI. Instantly Tigre woke up, grappled Lim onto the floor and reached for his hunting knife that Lim had wisely removed earlier.

"Huh? Lim?" he said, realizing what he was doing.

"Didn't you say that Tigre doesn't grope them?" Titta asked.

Tigre and Lim looked down (From their perspective at least) and saw that Tigre's left hand was on Lim's chest.

"Uhm…" Tigre was starting to sweat. Lim meanwhile was glaring at Naruto for talking her into this mess.

"Hey, he woke up, didn't he?" Naruto merely asked. "And seriously, don't tell me you don't like it."

Lim's face showed a mix of anger, embarrassment and 'damn you are right', making the other girls laugh/giggle.

"Lim should probably train him like I trained Naruto." Ellen said as Tigre and Lim stood up, both red in the face.

"Trust me…I have tried to." Lim said, trying to return to her stoic demeanor, and failing spectacularly. **(1)**

"What do you mean?" Mila asked.

The answer left Mila feeling lonely and Regin and Titta feeling embarrassed.

After everything returned to normal

Whilst Titta served them breakfast, which consisted of various cheeses, meats and bread that was forcibly bought from the nearby villages…the 'forcibly' part coming in that Tigre refused to accept the food as charity.

During the meal, Tigre announced his intention on seeing whether or not Regin is who she says she is, with the others agreeing and offering points such as:

"If she is indeed the rightful heir, then we truly are fighting for a just cause." (Lim)

"You won't be branded a traitor any longer." (Titta)

"The People will be more likely to accept your cause than that of Thenardier." (Ellen)

"This war will be over sooner." (Naruto)

And so forth.

As for the method, Regin told them about a Grotto underneath Ganelon's former Capital of Artesium. Afterwards Tigre thought for a moment, then decided that they would take the route via the church.

"As for who of us would go…" Mila began.

"Definitely not you. If this is a trap, then we need you up top here to give Thenardier a sound thrashing." Ellen told her fellow battle-happy-female.

"Count me out as well." Naruto spoke up, taking everyone by surprise. They had expected him to volunteer for just such a mission.

"Why?" Ellen and Tigre asked.

"I need to cause some mischief again. And just now one of the clones I sent to spy on Thenardier's Army dispelled itself. They are heading north." Naruto told them, before grinning evilly. "I may as well offer them a warm welcome."

"And delay their arrival at the same time." Ellen nodded. "From…painful experience I know what happens when I forbid you from pulling pranks and such shit, so have fun…and leave some troops for us to fight later."

"I'll do my best not to piss them all of." Naruto said. Before he could leave, Ellen pulled him in for a kiss.

 **(A/N: the events inside the Holy Grotto are pretty much canon…)**

Early noon that day

After leaving the camp, Naruto made his way at high speed towards where his clones had last reported them being.

Upon arriving at the location, Naruto merely had to follow the trail of destruction left by the army, so it didn't take long for him to find them.

"Boss, what the heck are you doing here?" one of his clones, Clone A, asked as he arrived.

"Time to go and cause some shit amongst their lines." He said.

"What about El-chan?" another clone, Clone B, asked. "How did you convince her to let you go?"

"By promising to leave a few troops for her to fight later on." Original Naruto answered.

"But none of our pranks have killed anyone on purpose yet." Clone C asked.

"She doesn't need to know that." Clone D answered that. "So Boss, any ideas? Old school or new school?"

"Let's use some classics and some new stuff." Bos…Original Naruto said.

His Clones all had the same evil grin plastered on their face. In his mindscape, Naruto could feel both his parents, one of whom was a qualified shit-stirrer herself, shiver and huddle together.

Later that day

The army marched across a field when suddenly there was a loud shout amongst the ranks.

Plumes of smoke in various colors engulfed entire groups of soldiers, painting them a wonderful mix of neon green, sky blue, cherry-blossom pink and sunflower yellow. In the ensuing confusion there were new shouts as soldiers stepped on glass vials containing mixtures of Iron-sulfate and Salt-acid. **(2)**

Naruto would later describe the current scene as a stinking mess.

There were other traps as well:

Magnetic Tags created with his parents' help that attracted everything made of Iron or steel. Placed on the ground, it made the soldiers experience the feeling that they had entered a high gravity area.

Air-burst tags…for some reason his parents knew about a weak and seemingly pointless seal created by Jiraya whose sole purpose is to flip the skirts of girls so that he could see their panties. Naruto used these to propel itching powder into the air.

That being said, not all of the pranks were non-physical.

There were some that were a modified plank-prank. Normally with this the person would step onto one side of the plank, making the other fly up and smash into his/her face. With this one, when one soldier stepped on one end, the other end would go up between the legs of the soldier marching before in front of the initial soldier. This caused some infighting amongst the soldiers.

Then there were the pitfalls. Another classic by Naruto.

And all this was just Naruto getting warmed up. Truly his parents had reason to be afraid.

That was when Naruto noticed the absence of Thenardier and his bodyguards.

Later that Day

Naruto arrived at the ruins of Artesium, where the city centre had been turned into a massive crater.

He arrived at the same time Ellen did and they both jumped down to check up on the three figures lying at the bottom.

Naruto approached the nearest one, seeing that Ellen was checking up on Tigre and Bertrand.

 _'This one…wasn't he Thenardiers right hand man?'_ he thought to himself.

Shaking his head, he jumped over to Ellen who was about to check on Bertrand.

It didn't take long for the two of them to learn that he had passed away.

After a short while, Ellen shouted out for some rope.

Naruto meanwhile was paying his respects to Bertrand quietly, but inside his mindscape he let the tears fall freely.

 **Chapter 21: Return**

SMA camp, day after skirmish in the Holy Grotto, evening

The air in the camp was the same as always, except for a few places, mainly the tents housing the soldiers from Alsace, the commanders' tents and the tent Tigre shared with Lim, though at the moment he was the only one in there. If one were to walk in, one would immediately notice the lifeless eyes he had and the uneaten food on the table near him.

The death of Bertrand has dealt him a heavy emotional blow the likes of which he hadn't felt before.

Meanwhile, Regin, Mashas, Rurick, Gerard, Mila, Ellen, Lim and Naruto were sitting in the main command tent discussing Bertrands life.

"When Bertrand risked his life and crossed the border, to come and find Tigre, that was when all of this started." Ellen began. "It is because he listened to his voice that Tigre rose up."

"Count Roland, if I may be candid, will he be back on his feet again by tonight?" Gerard asked.

For a moment Mashas did not answer. "Honestly, I don't know."

"I can relate to Tigre." Naruto said. "I have been in a situation similar to his before."

"You have?" Mila asked.

"Whom did you lose?" Rurick asked.

"My Godfather." Naruto said. "He was the last family member I had."

"Naruto…" Ellen muttered. She knew what Naruto was talking about as he had told her his full life story.

"And how does this relate to Tigre?" Regin asked.

"If nothing is done to help him snap out of his current state, he will completely lose the will to live." Naruto said. "And to be honest, the only ones here who can do that is Lim, Old man Mashas and Titta, though she may also need a shoulder to cry on…"

"And you were in such a state?" Mila asked.

"No. I just had a strong case of depression followed by roughly a month long want for revenge." Naruto answered. "I guess one of the reason I didn't lose my will to live was because I, like many of those in my homeland, were trained from young to accept death as a way of life."

"That is a very grim point of view." Regin said.

Naruto tilted his head in agreement. "It is a point of view that allowed me to survive in battle and on adventures."

For a moment there was silence again.

"Any Ideas as to how we snap Tigre out of his state of mind?" Lim asked.

"Only two: Give him a reason to life." Naruto said. "The other way is to remind him of what he is fighting for."

"Not very helpful." Lim said.

"It is the only thing I can do at the moment." Naruto sighed. "As I said, the only ones capable of snapping Tigre out of his depression are you and Old man Mashas."

"You mentioned Titta earlier." Regin said.

"She…she may not seem like it, but there is a possibility that she is just as hurt as Tigre is." Naruto told her.

"Any advice for her?" Regin asked.

"I think all she needs is a shoulder to cry on, so how about letting the Old man do that and having Lim handle Tigre?" Naruto suggested.

The others agreed that that would be the best course of action. It was the only one they had at the moment.

 **(1): Imagine her stoic face that is red all over…**

 **(2): For those of you who don't know this, this is one of the ways to create a stink bomb. Please, do NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. You CAN TRY IT AT SCHOOL. It is perfect for skipping chemistry class.**

 **Chapter 21: Recognition and Redemption**

It took Lim less time than expected to snap Tigre out of his depression. She spent less than 20 minutes in Tigre's tent before the two of them walked out…and the difference was clear as day. Tigre had a fierce fire burning in his eyes, not for revenge or anger, but one of resolution.

"Man, if Shikamaru were here, he'd definitely ask you how you snapped him out of it so fast." Naruto muttered. _'That or he'd mutter something about "troublesome Blondes" again…'_

Back in Konoha

Shikamaru sneezed, blowing the Shogi tiles of the board.

"Troublesome…don't want to pick up the pieces, so…draw?" his father asked. Shikamaru found it too troublesome to refuse.

And back

"Well, I just spoke to him about other things." Lim said.

"Such as?" Naruto asked.

"A trade route running through the mountains connecting Leitmeritz and Alsace and by extension, Zhected and Brune." Tigre said. "You know, Ellen, sometimes I wonder just how far ahead you can plan."

"I just take a broad look on things like this." Ellen responded.

Tigre turned his head to the sounds of approaching steps and saw the others approaching them. Predictably, Rurick and Gerard started bickering almost immediately.

"Glad to have you back, Tigre." Mila greeted him. The other females nodded in agreement.

"Thanks." Tigre told them. "Uhm…Where's Titta?"

"Getting comforted by Old Man Mashas." Naruto answered.

Upon arriving at Mashas' Tent, they saw Titta sleeping with Mashas sitting next to her.

"I am really getting too old for this." He told them as they entered.

Next day

A man with a ridiculously long moustache arrived at the camp accompanied by a handful of knights bearing the royal standard.

"Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Brune, Pierre Badouin, at your service." He introduced himself to Tigre.

"Pier Badwin?" Naruto whispered/asked Ellen. She had to suppress a giggle.

"I'm so relieved that you are safe, Princess Regin." Badouin said, surprising Regin at him calling her Princess. "I heard everything that has happened from His Majesty."

"Is that right?" Regin sighed in relief.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Prime Minister." Tigre greeted the elder man.

"Do all Prime Ministers have huge fish-hooks on their face?" Naruto whispered/asked Ellen.

"Naruto, if you don't shut up now, I won't hear what else is being said." Ellen whispered back, though internally she was laughing hard.

"Oh no." Badouin said, shaking his head. "You once accompanied your father to the palace. It had been a while, Sir Tigrevurmud."

"Oh…" was Tigre's only response.

"So, what brings you here, Badouin?" Mashas asked.

"His Majesty, the king, has come around." Badouin said, surprising everyone. "It appears that he was poisoned by Duke Ganelon." This shocked everyone, but none more so than Regin. "Sir Tigrevurmud, would you mind telling me what your intentions are? What do you plan to do hereafter?"

Tigre's response was almost immediate. "I will fight Duke Thenardier, and strike him down."

"And have you any designs on Brune?" Badouin asked.

"No." Tigre answered. "Once I have assured the safety of Alsace, I will go to Zhcted as their prisoner."

"H-hold on! I'm sure we can dress that up to sound better!" Ellen almost shouted.

"So in other words, after all this he goes where Lim goes." Naruto said.

"That would be an added benefit." Tigre said.

"Well, excuse me for being 'just' a benefit…" Lim grumbled.

"If you come to Olmutz, I can guarantee you will be welcomed as a guest of honor." Mila said.

Badouin actually cracked a smile at the sight of the two friends bickering before turning back to Tigre.

"Are you really doing this just to protect Alsace?" he asked.

"I am." Tigre answered. "But there is one thing I'd like to say. If it will keep the peace in Alsace, I would not be averse to Alsace becoming a part of Zhcted."

Mashas grinned at that, knowing where Tigre was heading with those words. Tigre's heart was and always will be with his people in Alsace, no matter which sovereignty the land belonged to.

"Well then, Badouin, what would you have us do?" he asked.

Badouin thought for a moment. "Take Her Highness with you and hurry to Nice." He finally said. "His Majesty's life will probably not hold out much longer."

This scared Regin very much.

Tigre calmed her down by placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Duke Thenardier will probably try to block us from entering the royal capital." He said.

"Then let's go and kick his ass." Naruto said, getting bored of the meeting.

"Really man?" Rurick asked.

Several days later

The SMA and Thenardier's army met once again in combat on the plains of Mereville, a few leagues away from the Capital of Nice. It could possibly be considered the largest and bloodiest battle fought during the Brune Civil War, with both sides throwing everything they had into this final battle.

On a Hill overlooking the central battlefield were Regin, Mashas and Lim.

With Regin technically being the leader, she was given command of the SMA...at least on paper. In truth she left the leadership where it belonged and went about wondering if all the loss of life was worth it.

Lim and Mashas meanwhile were happy that she stopped complaining about the rather revealing armor they (the leaders [minus Tigre]) has forced her into…

Naruto had wondered if that particular suit of armor belonged to either Ellen…it was just as if not more so revealing than her own armor, but at least it wasn't as skimpy as that of the Purple Bitch with the Grass Cutting Tool.

The battle meanwhile was nothing more than a bloody melee, which even Regin could see.

"What is going on?" she wondered. "Are Thenardiers troops really this disorganized?"

"No. I think the rumors of Thenardiers main lieutenant dying in the Grotto are true." Mashas said.

"At least that makes it easier for us…" Lim began.

"But even so, even with his right hand man dead, Thenardier would still be able to properly lead his troops, unless…" Regin, Mashas and Lim came to the same conclusion.

"It can't be…" Regin began, but by that time Lim was already galloping towards the left flank.

With Tigre

Tigre, Ellen, Naruto and Mila together with the entire left flank were staring down at the single person wearing heavy armor and wielding a massive sword that was almost as large as Durandal, if not larger.

"Thenardier, have you come to pay for your crimes to the Brunish Crown, to the Brunish People and to Brune itself?" Tigre called over.

"Not to mention he has a really shitty hairstyle and beard, ridiculous looking armor and eyes so full of hate that they would have made the Kyuubi show some respect…" Naruto muttered, though if anyone heard him they gave no reaction.

"I could have gone and holed myself up in the Capital, but that would only have delayed the inevitable." Thenardier said. "I have come to get my revenge and take what is mine by right. Even if I have to torch the land and drive the people away from their homes, I would have succeeded. However now none of that matters."

The ensuing tension was broken by Naruto who didn't feel it in the first place.

"Oi, oi. I think that this guy has a screw loose or something." Naruto said.

"You dare call me crazy, brat?" Thenardier asked/growled. "I am Duke Thenardier, rightful heir to the throne of Brune…"

"And the only guy here with a bad hair day, we know." Naruto interrupted. "Tigre, Ellen, Potato, do either of you want to take him on, or should I do it?" he asked his companions.

Ellen shook her head, Tigre nodded and readied his bow and issued a challenge and Mila gave him a deafening roar, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A POTATO?"

Thenardier meanwhile…

"Very well, I accept your challenge, traitor, and after I have dealt with you, that blonde brat is next."

"If you say so…now, where is some Ramen for me to eat whilst we enjoy the show?" Naruto asked.

"Ramen? That food for peasants?" Thenardier asked in a clearly insulting tone.

A tick mark appeared on Naruto's head and those around him backed away from him.

"Tigre, do me a favor and lose your round so that I can fucking kill this guy…" he growled.

"Uhm…how about you and me swap places?" the Archer proposed.

"I don't care either way. That peasant food eater and you will die either way and those girls will become my slaves."

A jumble of thoughts went through the army, which could be summarized by a single statement:  
"He's soooooo going to die now."

"Naruto, should we give you some space?" Ellen asked.

"Yeah. Give us a 50m radius will ya. Make it 75 to be safe." Naruto answered, yellow pigment started forming around his eyes.

"Everyone…" Ellen called out but was interrupted by one of the knights.

"We heard him, and I think the horses will be happy to GTHAFT (Get The Hell Away From There)." The knight shouted and the entire group retreated at high speed.

"As you are not a coward who ran and hid, I will show my respect to you by finishing you off with one of my strongest techniques." Naruto said, lifting his hand above his head, palm facing skyward, whilst forming a rasengan.

"You call that puny little ball your strongest technique?" Thenardier asked, before charging. Naruto dodged the attack by simply jumping as high as he could into the air, then began feeding lots more chakra into the rasengan, making it grow rapidly.

With the spectators

"What the…" Mila and Ellen stared at the rapidly growing orb in Naruto's hand, which was now bigger than him.

"Ellen, what is this? It had better not be the technique he used against the dragons a while ago." Mila all but shouted. "We are nowhere near far enough for that."

"I see know why he asked for an area this large…" Tigre said.

"Hey, Mila…is your Dragon Gear also shivering?" Ellen suddenly asked.

"What?" Mila asked, before noticing something. "Oh you have got to be kidding me…"

Back with Naruto

Naruto had reached the peak of his jump and was starting to fall towards the ground, heading straight for Thenardier.

" _Ninpo:_ " he said, using words that nobody could understand. " _Chou Odama Rasengan_ " he finished, before suddenly speeding up his decent " _Plus backdraft_ ". Ellen saw that he was using wind thrusters at the soles of his feet.

"Hey, that technique is mine, damn copy cat." She shouted.

Her words were drowned out by the roar of the explosion, which in turn was drowned out by Thenardiers roar of pain and Naruto shouting at him to die.

Nearby

Lim reached the top of a nearby hill only to see a massive dust-cloud rising from the battlefield. She also saw the entirety of the left flank hiding behind a wall of Ice near the origin of the blast and felt her heart rate increasing when she saw the familiar pink mop of hair amongst the group.

She spurred her horse into a gallop.

The dust had settled by the time she arrived and she was just as shocked to see the large crater. At its centre stood Naruto wearing utterly shredded clothes and Thenardier, wearing armor that was in an even worse state than Naruto's clothes, was lying at his feet.

"Hey, Ellen…" Mila began.

"Hmm? What?" Ellen snapped out of her stupor.

"I forbid you from learning that technique…" Mila continued.

"Would you try learning it if Lavias told you not to?" Ellen countered. "'cause Arifar is telling me the same thing."

POV change, 3rd person

News of Thenardiers defeat spread through the Battlefield like a wild fire across an Oil-soaked field, with Thenardiers soldiers losing the will to fight at the news.

The soldiers and knights of the SMA meanwhile were raising battle cries in victory.

Regin, upon hearing the news was glad that the fighting was finally coming to an end.

For some reason, she felt her heart sink slightly when the news that Tigre had proposed to Lim and she accepted arrived minutes later.

Mashas meanwhile chuckled, saying that it was about time that happened.

Sometime later, the Kings chambers

 **(1)**

 **(2)**

"Hey BB-chan…" Naruto asked Sofya.

"Hmm? Yes?" she answered.

"Is there any good place here in Nice where I can take Ellen out on a Date?" Naruto asked.

Sofya blinked, not understanding what Naruto meant with 'Date', but soon figuring it out.

"Of course there is." She said, then gave him a list of fine restaurants and public baths where he could take her. She also told him of a village nearby that had hot springs and Ramen stands…

And this was when Naruto decided where to go on his Date…

 **(1): The Victory Parade is pretty much the same as in the Anime except that Lim, being Tigre new Fiancée, was sitting next to him in the carriage and Regin was sitting next to Titta. Add also that Lim is wearing a skin tight dress and is very embarrassed by it, and you get the picture…and don't forget that Regin and Titta are pouting jealously whenever they look at her bust…**

 **(2): the interaction between Tigre and Faron (the king) is canon, just add that he congratulates Tigre and Lim on their engagement at the end of the conversation.**

 **Epilog**

Naruto was sitting at a small Ramen stand in Leitmeritz, ordering some Ramen.

"I didn't know that someone like you likes Ramen this much." The chef said.

"Are you new here?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, just arrived in Leitmeritz last week. Before that I worked in Legnica." The man didn't look up from his work whilst answering.

"Oh, good to know. What brings you here here?" Naruto asked.

"I want to spread the food of the gods that is ramen to other people." The man answered.

"Food of the gods?" Naruto asked, making the chef look at him. "Old Man, now you are speaking my language."

The chef smiled and went back to work with extra vigor, happy to already have a regular customer.

 **And finished…Sorry it took so damn long for this chapter, but I ended up rewriting it a couple of times because some points wither didn't make sense or they completely ruined the story. In the end I had to deviate from the main story in order to write and finally finish the story and this is the result: a short ending.**


End file.
